When I Said I Do
by Paprika012345
Summary: After a diplomatic trip goes awry, Sakura and Kakashi are faced with making a choice that will affect the rest of their lives forever. Saku/Kaka, slightly AUish
1. Chapter 1

A/N-Surprise!! I'm not dead. I've just been busy with school. This story is slightly AUish, still has aspects of them being a ninja but they don't have the Genjutsu, or ninjutsu only taijutsu…They're still in Konoha but I've changed some things (ie-female ninja must have short hair….Kakashi doesn't have a mask ect.). Anyways read and review.

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto or the song from which I derived this title, 'When I Said I Do' by Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black.

Chapter 1

The kendo stick whistled through the air, and a sharp crack sounded as it was deflected by another. Before her attacker could strike again, she raised her kendo stick again, this time for a downward swipe. He leapt up in the air to avoid her, but she had anticipated this. Abruptly changing the direction of her swing, she jerked it up and tapped his legs. This threw off his balance just enough that he landed, stumbled, and fell back. In an instant the dulled dagger sheathed at her side for training was out and at her assailant's throat.

"Okay, okay you win Sakura!" he crawled out from under blade and stood up. "I'm glad everyone's gone for the day," he added dryly as he brushed the dust off of his clothes. "The guys would never let me hear the end of it if I were beaten by a girl."

The girl laughed; a bubbly sound. Gone was the fierce fighter who had pinned her partner against the ground after a tough spar. Her misty green eyes sparkled and her tone, when she spoke was mischievous. "I've seen you fight Kurenai before, and she took you to town. Asuma was watching too-you didn't seem to mind losing in front of the guys then."

"That's because Asuma would've killed me if I hurt Kurenai."

"It doesn't matter. It's not losing against a girl that bothers you Kakashi," she smiled wickedly. "It's losing against your former student."

Hatake Kakashi grimaced at her remark. He raked a hand through his shaggy silver hair and narrowed his dark eyes. "I'm not going to answer that," he grouched as he turned around and walked off the outdoor sparring arena back into the Dojo.

She smiled as he left and turned back to her training. The beautiful pink haired girl moved with a disturbing grace as she flowed through her Kendo stances. Her skin was tanned and soft- she had dealt with acne when she was a teenager, and the results had paid off and she was now blemish free. Her hair was short, as required of female ninja, not going past her shoulders, although she rarely wore it down, and kept it pulled up in a spiky ponytail. Being in the top guard of her village, Konoha, required that she keep her body in top shape, and as such she was slender but toned. Her eyes were, as noted before, a pale emerald, but they could pinpoint a target and she could hit the bulls-eye on said target from 75 feet.

In her village training started when a person was young, around 5 or 6-gender didn't matter. At that age, of course, they were more just amusing the children than attempting to turn them into soldiers, but each activity the youngsters did played a distinct part in training. As the young children grew up, it was determined who would be cut out for the academy, and who would be sent to the normal school. Haruno Sakura had been astounded when she had been informed that she had been selected for Academy training at the age of 9. Of course she accepted it, it was her dream…but if the Hokage-the leader of the village- had paid any attention to her, he would've noticed that she tended to be too emotional which is something that was verboten for a ninja. You were not supposed to show emotion while on a mission. Ever. Period.

But she had gone in with an open mind that she could train her self to be entirely impassive. She had learned every single line of the ninja handbook and had committed it to memory. She knew the theory, and she trained with everyone else but her smarts got her through not her fighting capability. At 12 she graduated the academy and was put to more practical training. She was put in a three person group, which were traditionally constructed of a high ranked leader, two males and one female because the female ninjas were hard to come by.

She never got around to teaching herself emotionless.

Her instructor had been, of course, Hatake Kakashi. He had been 18, and had risen in the ranks faster than anyone ever had in Konoha. With his silver hair and black eyes he was one of the more attractive males of the village. Her two squad mates had been walking contrasts. Uchiha Sasuke, who was a member of the prestigious Uchiha clan, was a child prodigy. He had pale skin- she was sure she had never seen him tanned, for all the time they had to be outside-and black hair as well as eyes. He was cool and aloof, which is what had drawn nearly every girl of their year to him, although he never showed interest in a single one.

When he had been 9, just after going into the academy, his brother had gone insane and had wiped out their entire family, leaving only Sasuke alive. Rumor had it that the hardships of living as a ninja had gotten to his brother Itachi and so much killing had finally taken its toll on the young man. Itachi had run off after committing the crime and Sasuke had become hell bent on nothing less than finding his brother and taking his life. Sakura flinched even now as she remembered how Sasuke, after deciding that he couldn't get the strength he wanted by remaining in Konoha, had abandoned the village in search of someone to give him more strength when he was 13.

It had broken Sakura's heart, so convinced had she been that he had loved her back.

She had thrown herself headfirst into her training after he had left the village. Applying all the head knowledge she had acquired at the academy, she trained herself to be the best female ninja ever. When he had returned, three years ago, she had forgiven him, in her heart, for hurting her so badly, even though he hadn't apologized, and over time they had grown to be good friends. Some people thought that they were a couple, or commented that they'd be a good couple but Sakura knew better. He'd left once and broken her heart, she wasn't going to let him do it again.

The other guy in her group didn't have quite as long a story attached to him. Uzumaki Naruto had been orphaned at birth. While younger he preferred a bright orange jumpsuit which clashed horribly with his bright yellow hair, but not with his sky-blue eyes. He had also had an annoying crush on Sakura and she had often, and cruelly, rebuked him in favor of flirting with Sasuke who in turn had refused her. She realized, about a half a year after Sasuke had left exactly how petty she had been, and how unfair. She apologized to Naruto, and he had accepted, but by that point had moved on to a mutual friend named Hyuuga Hinata- who had been in love with the flamboyant boy since their academy days. They had recently, at the age of 20, announced their engagement although it was a surprise to none.

She also had a very close friend-her best friend-named Yamanaka Ino. They had been best friends ever since their first days in school, when Ino had helped the withdrawn Sakura come out of her shell and become the girl she could be. There was one point when they had become fierce rivals for the attentions and affection of Uchiha Sasuke but once he had left, both grew out of that phase, Ino quicker than Sakura. Once both had realized how insane they had been as children, they made up and became close friends once more. Ino, who had green eyes and brown hair, at the age of 18 had begun dating their friend Nara Shikamaru, and the two had gotten married just a month ago.

She cleaned up the training yard once she had gone through the rest of her Kendo techniques. She thought overall that she had gotten a good deal, out of all of them. While Naruto was in training for the role of village leader, and Sasuke, (after serving his probation for betraying the village), had become another top ranked ninja, she had wound up with their former teacher as her partner. Kakashi was a nice guy, and she had never begrudged the fact that he spent so much time training Sasuke, more so than he had the other two. That had only driven both Naruto and Sakura to train harder.

Much to her surprise Kakashi was waiting for her when she got back into the dojo to shower and go home for the evening. She had to do some shopping but judging by the grim look on his face that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. "We've been summoned before the Hokage Sakura. I sincerely doubt it's anything good based on the report that Asuma gave me. The major village a few days to the north, Kuno in Lightning Country has been making noise about being upset with Konoha for taking Sasuke back. Apparently one of their dignitaries was caught in the crossfire when Sasuke had been in the final battle with Itachi and I think they may want him put to death or at least punished. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that the Hokage would like us to go there and soothe the wounds." Absently be brushed a spike of silvery hair out of his eyes.

"Let me shower and then I'll be ready to go."

She returned from the locker room with her shoulder length hair pulled back into tight braids as opposed to her spiky pony tail. She had changed out of her training outfit, into her guard outfit which was quite similar. Her bottoms were skin-tight black leggings, with a carrying case attached to her right leg that held different types of blades, from small throwing knives to small ninja stars. She wore open toed sandals that went up to her ankle for extra support, and the part of her legs that was exposed was toned and tanned. She wore a tank top, blue to compliment her hair, and black fingerless gloves.

As they walked towards the Hokage's office his seriousness vanished and they started talking, an aimless banter natural between two old friends. When she had been younger, they hadn't been able to relate like this him being an 18 year old, as well as her mentor, and she being a 12 year old girl obsessed with Sasuke. About a year after she started training with Kakashi, after Sasuke had left, she went to the Hokage, Lady Tsunade, and requested to be her apprentice. She had been accepted and left Kakashi, although he hadn't minded and had, in fact, encouraged her to pursue anything that would make her stronger. Last year Tsunade had assigned them as mission partners and they had been close ever since.

"Must you constantly keep that knife at your waist?" Kakashi gestured at the sheath. The knife was dull enough to use for everyday things, but sharp enough for self defense. The hilt of the dagger was inlaid with a pattern of lapis lazuli, and jade pieces, in a way that showed the symbol of the leaf village, and the sheath had her name in the same semi precious stones.

"Yes," she replied promptly, and somewhat defensively. "My mother gave it to me, you knew that, when I graduated the academy, with the promise that I wouldn't use it until I was properly trained. I am…you just don't like it because it gives me an advantage over you. Besides, I'd rather use my dagger to end the battle then a sharp kunai. I really have to use force with this thing to make it break skin."

Kakashi gave a half smile under his mask. "If you say so." By this point they were at the tower where Tsunade did her daily business. The two guards at the door nodded at the two coming in, and after climbing a few sets of stairs, they found themselves at Tsunade's office.

"Enter." Sakura and Kakashi walked in and stood at attention, facing a desk. Behind said desk was a beautiful, albeit older woman, who looked haggard. "Good. I've been waiting for you." Her tired brown eyes were lined with bags underneath, and her blonde hair was pulled back into a loose braid.

"The missive said something about Lightning country, Lady Hokage."

"Yes, the Raikage sent me a message." She slid a glance at Sakura and looked back at Kakashi. "His request is that Uchiha Sasuke be put to death for causing the death of his nephew Tumaita Jima." Even if she didn't love him anymore the news took her by shock and despite her training she still couldn't keep in her anger.

"They have no right to request the death penalty on a citizen of Konoha, do they Lady Hokage?" her teeth were gritted in fury, but out of respect for Tsunade she kept her temper in check.

"They do when he did it as a missing ninja. What I want you two to do, because you both are very good at negotiation, is go to Kuno and appeal to the Raikage to revoke his claim on Sasuke's life. He's the last living member of the Uchiha clan and is needed to carry on his bloodlines. We can't let that clan die."

Kakashi nodded. "You're right Lady Tsunade. We'll leave tomorrow morning." Sakura still stood with her fists clenched in anger at the Raikage's arrogance in demanding her friend's life. Tsunade looked at the girl unhappily but said nothing knowing that Sakura would be more offended if the Hokage would suggest that she couldn't do this mission. Kakashi gently took Sakura's clenched hand and gave it a squeeze to calm her down.

In response Sakura inclined her head slightly in response to her hand being squeezed and said "Yes Lady Tsunade. We'll leave tomorrow; it's an honor to accept this mission."

Tsunade nodded. "Here Sakura." The village leader reached behind her desk and pulled out a large bag from behind her desk. "You'll need these in Kuno. Kakashi will explain to you. It's a full 3 day walk-you'll get there the fourth day- and we need this finished. Dismissed."

OoOoOoOoOo

Once they were outside the Tower, Sakura lost the temper she'd been holding since given the mission. "How dare they. How dare they demand the life of a Konoha ninja? They have no right!! Why not just declare war on us??"

Kakashi pulled her into an alley. Grabbing her shoulders, he gave her a shake so that she would come back to her sense and listen to him. "They dare because of the position Jima was in. He was the nephew of the Raikage. They won't just declare outright war because they're a tiny country. Think! Don't let your emotions get the better of you; didn't I teach you that? Now what we're about to do will be better for Sasuke than any attack, or any battle plan. If we can rationalize out of this, we won't have to think about handing him over. And that's why Tsunade sent us; we're the best negotiators of the leaf village."

He shifted his hands down to her wrists. "I know he's your friend, and I know you'd do anything to help him but this is what you can do to help him. The best thing to do. Now go home, sharpen your blade, and rest. Or go out with your friends, whatever you prefer. Rest tonight and tomorrow we go to Lightning." He hugged her and felt her relax in his arms.

"I know Kakashi. I'll be fine; I just had to get that anger out of my system. I'll be ready to go tomorrow morning." She pulled away and walked back towards her house.

OoOoOoOoOo

She sat at the table with her friends in the local bar, swirling her coke and vodka around in its glass. She had told her friends about her mission she had been assigned to, without telling them why because she knew that Sasuke would feel responsible for anything that went wrong on this mission. A slow song flashed on prompting Naruto and Hinata to get up and dance. He threw back his whiskey and ice and stood, holding out his hand.

Sakura gave her friend a half smile, finished her drink, and took his hand. Once they were on the floor they started to chat quietly. Once Sasuke had returned and he knew Itachi was dead, he had lightened up considerably, not to a more sociable point but to the point where he could talk to someone as a friend. "You seem down tonight Sakura."

"I'm just considering some stuff about the mission tomorrow." She put her hand on his shoulder and kept her other one clasped in his hand. He slid his hand around her waist to her back and they swayed gently in time to the music. She tilted her head and looked at him as they swayed. "I don't really want to do this mission. I'm going to be out of Konoha for a month or so."

"Well I doubt that it's going to make much of a difference of what your friends such as myself and Naruto, think of you."

"It's a diplomatic mission. The Raikage is issuing the Hokage a challenge, and Kakashi and I are answering."

"Hmm." He could feel that her muscles were tense and he rubbed her back to relax her. "I'm no fool, Sakura; I know why you're going to Lightning. This is my fault, for killing that lightning dignitary." He signed and squeezed her hand. "I'd go even knowing that if I set foot into Lightning now, the Raikage would have me executed on the spot. I didn't know Tsunade would assign you and Kakashi to this, if you want I can go volunteer to take it."

He said that knowing that Sakura would refuse. She'd rather be the one going into hostile territory than a friend who would be killed for going there. "You know I can't do that Sasuke, it's my mission."

The dance was drawing to a close. Being this close to Sasuke reminded her of how bad of a thing she had had for him when younger. He was an attractive man to be sure, but he just held no appeal for her anymore. He was a friend.

"Sakura, I know you have a mission tomorrow and you won't be back for about a month but would you be willing to consider a date when you get back?"

She froze in his arms, her emerald eyes widening. "Sasuke you can't be serious."

Unfortunately, from the hurt look in his eyes –the most emotion she had ever really seen there besides hatred- he was serious. "I've always thought we'd make a good couple Sakura, lots of people have."

She drew her eyebrows together. "I know they thought we would Sasuke, and at one time I thought we would too. But then you left, and I must admit when you did that you broke my heart. And I've got over it, I mean it was 7 years ago, and I forgive you for hurting me- you're a good friend, but that's all I see you as."

He detached himself from her arms. "If you think I see you as just a good friend, then you're blind Sakura," were his quiet words before he left the bar.

She followed him, unwilling to let it rest. She had to find out when this had sprung up. "Wait, Sasuke! You need to understand. It's not just you. I haven't found anyone who I'm attracted too, at least since you left. I was hurt when you betrayed the village, and I didn't feel as though I could trust males again."

"When I left I did so under the assumption that you would be there waiting for me when I got back. You told me you loved me and yet I'm just a friend? Did it ever occur to you that I had fallen for you, that the reason I came back was to be with you? I was stoic when we were younger because I didn't want you dragged into my revenge." He reached for her hand.

She pulled back.

"Did it ever occur to _you_ that I thought you didn't feel the same when you didn't stay when I begged you too!! That night….I pleaded with you, implored you to stay. If you had I probably would've loved you, we'd probably be together. But you left. You made your choice and this is how it turned out. It's going to have to stay like this regardless of how you may now feel because I don't love you anymore Sasuke."

A/N-Read and Review!!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter, Loku and Hatake Sienna (Sey --). As always read and review, hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto or the song 'When I Said I do'.

Chapter 2

The next morning, Sakura met up with Kakashi at the city gates and together they started walking in the direction of Kuno.

The day passed uneventfully and it was almost time to set up camp, however, Kakashi had noticed that Sakura wasn't nearly as energetic as she normally was when they set out on a mission. He eyed her face, noting how pale she was, and how large the bags under her eyes were. "I'm not going to ask who you got into the fight with. But why, honestly, why the night before a mission like this?" For he knew that only a fight with a friend would prevent her from being rested enough before a mission.

"It's not my fault!! I mean he totally took me by surprise when he asked me out on a date when I got back. And he was under no illusions might I add, he knows why we're leaving…"

"Wait…Sasuke asked you out?" Kakashi clenched his teeth, the calm ninja suddenly furious. His former student had some nerve. Sakura had been heartbroken after the young man had left-everyone in the village knew that- and for a small while had visibly sunk into a deep depression, although she would deny it. Kakashi, who knew the young woman better than anyone (especially after the past year), also knew that for a small while-the duration of her depression-that she had blamed herself for Sasuke leaving. She had thought that if she had only loved him a little more, if only she had given him a few more reasons for staying in Konoha, then maybe he wouldn't have left. If Kakashi had had the means at that particular point in time then he would've killed the traitor.

"Yeah, he did. And I mean….it would make sense, he's never seen me fall for any other guy, and the last male I told I loved was him…besides my father at least. But what he doesn't seem to understand is that 7 years have past since I told him that, since I begged in to stay. Time's passed, I've changed. I've realized exactly how pathetic I was when I was younger, hanging over him like that."

This statement made Kakashi smile. He had watched the woman beside him grow from a besotted young girl, ineffective as a ninja because of her infatuation and desire to please this boy who didn't deserve it into a beautiful, graceful and deadly ninja. He had been a part of this raising, although he had to admit not as much as he had. He had focused, in his three man squad on training Sasuke, hoping that he would be able to give him the strength that the boy had desired. Sasuke's personality had reminded Kakashi of himself, and had known that the lengths to which the Uchiha would go for revenge knew no bounds.

Actually, he was also trying to protect Naruto and Sakura herself by training Sasuke the way he had. Naruto and Sasuke had been gifted with a difficult relationship. In any other situation they probably would've been close friends but Sasuke's drive for strength had squashed that and instead the two had turned into rivals. Because of this, by Sasuke growing stronger, Kakashi had known that Naruto would strive to be strong enough to beat Sasuke and his plan had worked. Naruto was now considered to be next in line to be the village leader once Lady Tsunade passed away, and was a very powerful ninja-and in the end, the two had turned into reasonable friends anyways.

He had been trying to protect Sakura because of the mental state she would fall into if Sasuke left. Although in that matter, he had underestimated the young woman. She had been hurt, but her hurt had only served to make her stronger. She had gone to Lady Tsunade and had never looked back. The mission they had been assigned together the year previous had been at Kakashi's request. He'd wanted to see how much his former student had grown under the Hokage's tutelage and she had ended up saving his life using a useful medical procedure that Tsunade had taught her.

"Forget it for now then Sakura. You don't have to deal with Sasuke again until we get back from Kuno, and that will be a month. Maybe he'll find someone else in that time."

The pinkhead gave her friend a grateful smile. "I will then. I know that it's foolish for me to believe he may find someone else in a month when he's obviously desired me for awhile, but maybe if I go away for awhile he'll understand my reasons for rejecting him."

Kakashi put his arm around her and gave her a little sideways hug. "It's okay Sakura. I know you don't want to hurt him and once he gets over it he'll understand. I know quite personally that men can be irrational right after being rejected but after awhile logic will sink in."

She leaned her head on his shoulder for comfort and then straightened. The rest of the walk that day they did in an understanding silence. Kakashi made the decision to make camp early that day to give the exhausted woman a chance to rest. He went hunting, leaving her to set up camp and start a fire, and came back in about half an hour with a rabbit-dinner. Within about half an hour it was roasted over the fire and ready to eat.

"Lady Tsunade told me that the weather tonight is going to be pretty chilly. I packed extra blankets but I think we should sleep in our clothes tonight."

Sakura nodded from where she sat as she chewed thoughtfully on some meat. "Makes sense. I mean it's spring, but there can still be cold days. And if it gets too cold we can huddle together. Body heat and all that." She ripped another chunk off of her rabbit.

This caused Kakashi to give off a small smile. While Sakura could be a refined lady when she wanted to-and she'd have to while in Lightning-when she was out camping, on a mission, there were no pretenses. She was first and foremost a ninja, and as such needed the nutrients that the meat provided. She'd get as much into her as she could by any means necessary-including shoveling chunks into her mouth in the most undignified way possible. That was one thing he liked about her-she didn't care what people thought.

Once the fire had burned low, Sakura and Kakashi both went to sleep. Normally someone would keep up for watch but in the middle of the forest, while they were still in their own country neither really saw it as necessary. After they were huddled in their sleeping bags, they discovered just how right Tsunade had been. Only Sakura's nose was showing, and although she was asleep, Kakashi had been woken up by her shivering.

He debated about it for a second but then decided that keeping her warm was necessary because she had a lot less bulk on her body than he did, and unzipped his sleeping bag. He then proceeded to unzip hers as well, and quickly transferred her into his bag. He grabbed her own and spread it over them so that they were under both sleeping bags, and a blanket as well as their clothes. Carefully, so as not to wake her, he turned her so that he was spooning her and wrapped an arm around her for warmth. He fell asleep only when he felt her stop shaking.

As he did, he thought briefly that she must use strawberry shampoo…her soft hair smelled of it.

OoOoOoOoOo

The next morning, Sakura woke up with the feeling of something wrapped around her torso, and the weight of several layers of blankets. She tried to roll over but whatever held her clenched tighter and refused to let her go. Deciding to go with something less of a sharp movement, she wriggled a little causing the arm holding her to loosen enough for progress. Finally making it onto her stomach, she looked over…

Only to have Kakashi's face right beside hers.

Her stomach clenched when she realized how close they were. She could see the slight growth of silver stubble on his cheeks, and she noted how unguarded his face was while he slept. He really was quite handsome, and was probably (hands down) the most eligible bachelor in Konoha-being 26 and without a wife, fiancée or even a girlfriend. Of course, she realized, he had moved her into his sleeping bag thinking it'd be warmer. And she was grateful, the last thing she remembered was being so cold she was scared that her nose would fall off.

As she mused about this, he stirred in his sleep and she froze, scared she had woken him. Instead, he drew her closer to him in his arms, close enough that her face was pressed into the crook where his neck met his shoulder, and there was no moving this time. She had never quite noticed how strong his arms were but having them wrapped tight around her left little to the imagination.

Okay, she had to stop this now. Before it got too out of hand.

"Kakashi…. Come on…wake up. It's daybreak, we need to get going." She leaned as far away from the spot where he held her against his chest as he could, and attempted to wake him up. His eyelids fluttered and eased open. The arm around her waist raised up to block the light from his vision. Taking this opportunity, she leapt up out of the sleeping bag and stepped back. Her sudden absence must've woken him up more because he sat up and looked around.

"You're right…I'm sorry I must've slept in," his voice sounded contrite and he got up out of the sleeping bag. "Here, help me roll these."

He tossed her a sleeping bag and Sakura focused as hard as she could on rolling it up. She only glanced at him once, when she knew he wasn't looking and focused on the muscles that she now knew resided beneath the cotton of his shirt. They visibly bulged out as he rolled up the bag to fit in the packs.

Sakura considered herself a normal hot blooded woman…so how on earth had she missed the fact that her ex teacher was a total hottie? She shook the thoughts out of her head, and knowing that he would soon be alerted to her attention, she turned back to the sleeping bag and continued rolling. Within about half an hour they were on their way towards Kuno once more, crossing the boarder at around noon. The journey, thus far, had been in silence.

Sakura wasn't sure what to say. For her it had been awkward because she had been made aware that her old teacher wasn't just a good friend now. He was a man. A man only 6 years older than her-well within dating range.

"If we continue at this pace, we should be just outside of Kuno by sundown. However, I don't want to enter the village quite yet. There's some stuff we need to go over about this mission before we're officially presented. We'll stop at around 5 to make camp. That should put is about half a days leisurely walk from Kuno; we'd get there around noon tomorrow. Does that agree with you?"

She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, and blushed ever so slightly. She could feel the red covering her cheeks and she instantly tried to suppress it. "Sounds fine Kakashi." She averted her eyes and studied the foliage surrounding them. Even though her actions were quick he picked up on it right away.

"Is this because I took you into my sleeping bag this morning? Your cheeks have gone the color of a ripe apple."

To cover her blush she looked away and fumbled for something to say. "Was it really the most decent thing to do Kakashi? I had my own sleeping bag…"

"And you woke me up with your shivering. I figured it's better for you to be snuggled into my sleeping bag then to freeze and not get much sleep. It's nothing to be embarrassed about; I've done that with male partners when necessary."

'_I'll bet you've never put your arm around them and pulled them closer.'_ She thought in a dry tone in her head. His words, however, made sense and she felt the blush fade off of her face. "Sorry then Kakashi, for being a little immature about it. I guess I just felt a little awkward because I've never woken up next to a guy before."

"That's understandable Sakura. I'd be lying if I said that I'd never woken up beside a girl before, although I must say none of them have ever tried to get out of my bed that fast." This remark made his partner laugh.

"They should try it," she commented. "It might deflate your ego a little bit." Around Konoha, Kakashi had been known as a little bit of a womanizer, at least he had while she had been his student. He scowled at her jab, and refused to respond.

The walk continued in silence. It was almost time to stop and make camp when Kakashi's irritation had faded enough to break the silence. "So, I realized I said to not deal with this until after the mission but what are you going to do if Sasuke doesn't get the hint? Because, really, that's something you need to think about."

"Honestly Kakashi I'm not sure if I won't just try and give him another chance if he asks me out again. I did want him at one point in time and I don't have many prospects-everyone's getting matched up, there's not really many single people left in my age bracket that I'd willingly marry. And I could live contented with him, if not happily. Because divorce isn't an option, as you well know."

Indeed, divorce wasn't an option. Well it was, in extreme cases but no person who lived in Konoha in their right mind would get a divorce. Women in her village who had been forced to get a divorce, even in extreme circumstances, were looked down upon. The odds of them finding a man to remarry were slim, as men preferred untainted women. Widows were lucky if they wanted to get out of their marriage and the husband should die. They were treated with respect and they could more than likely find a man willing to marry them and care for them once their husband passed. Sasuke was strong and should she marry him, she would be with him for the rest of his or her life.

"I know it's not. That's why you should make the right choice before you get to serious with someone. You deserve to be happy in a relationship, not… _contented_." He said it like it was a dirty word.

"I know. But life isn't a fairy tale Kakashi and I'm not going to pretend it is. There are some ninjas so committed to this lifestyle that they never even attempt to meet someone to love but I want a family. And if Sasuke can give that to me, then I'll settle for him."

Kakashi didn't respond to that, and instead said, "We'll make camp here."

Once they had set up the tents once more and built a fire, he began telling Sakura the things she'd need to know once they got into Kuno. "They're very formal there, more formal than we are in Konoha. You'll see things you won't like. They treat their women very badly. That's why I wanted to talk to you before hand. You know we have to treat their customs with respect….you're not allowed to wear your normal ninja clothes into Kuno, for example. You need to wear a conservative dress."

This drew a blank look from Sakura. "I didn't pack anything like that Kakashi. You didn't tell me about this, I only have pants."

"You have more. The package that Lady Tsunade gave you had about 5 or 6 dresses in it that you can interchange while we're in Kuno. I have one in my pack for you as well, for entering the city. It was specially designed by Lady Tsunade for female ninjas who have to go to Kuno. It's got very well concealed weapon pockets that are easily accessible." Kakashi reached into his pack and drew out the beautiful dress. The collar looked like it would go almost up to her chin, and it visibly went to her ankles, with long billowing sleeves.

"How am I supposed to fight in this thing…" her voice trailed off and she looked at the dress closer. There. She could see the subtly worked in seam showing where the dress was attached slightly looser and could be detached at a moment's notice, and turned into a short skirt.

"Tsunade's even fixed it so that the fabric around your neck and torso is slightly stiffer, just enough so that it might deflect a small knife if necessary."

"And have weapons already been hidden?"

"Some. You can look through it and see where they are, familiarize yourself with the garment. There are a couple places for you to place your own weapons as needed. I have a hunch that a certain dagger will be somewhere. May I suggest the pocket in the sleeve?"

Sakura lifted up the broad left sleeve and noticed several small straps positioned just right to hold her small dagger. "I'll have to thank Tsunade for that when we get back." She stood up and put the dress into the tent. With her back to him, however, she didn't notice the look that passed over his face. They sat around the fire for a little longer until the moon had risen above the tree tops.

"There's one other thing Sakura," added Kakashi, as they climbed into their tent. "In Kuno you're not allowed to wear your hair up. They think it makes a woman look more masculine." Sakura rolled her eyes towards the top of the tent and curled up in her sleeping bag after layering 2 blankets on top for heat.

"Methinks I'm not going to like this village," she said wryly as the two drifted off to sleep.

The next morning passed uneventfully, as did the afternoon and the evening. It was just a day of walking. The tents were pitched quickly, and Kakashi found food for them. The next day they'd get into Kuno, and both were focused on that fact and went to bed once the fire had burned down.

OoOoOoOoOo

Kakashi waited by the extinct fire. From inside the tent he could hear growling as Sakura attempted to wrestle herself into the gown that she had to wear. That morning, upon waking she had booted him out, saying that if she was supposed to wear a dress she would have to put the effort into her appearance and that took time. "I don't have any make up," she fluttered as she rolled up her sleeping bag. "So I'm going to have to make due with what I have. I've been in the woods for the past day so I'm probably a mess."

Finally the flap of the tent unzipped and Kakashi turned to watch as Sakura attempted to stumble out of the tent in her long skirt. She managed to free herself and then stood, straitening her skirts as she did. "Kakashi, it's a corset back. Can you come lace me up please?"

He obliged and stepped forward as she showed him her back. Grasping the green ribbon that ran through the holes and criss-crossed her back, he began to pull on the top one, tightening the dress as he did. It took about 5 minutes, but eventually she was all done up. She then put ran a hand through her hair and teased it a little before turning around. "If you tease me for this, my dagger is readily accessible."

The dress was absolutely stunning on her. The corset had made it so the dress clung to her slender body to the waist, where it then fell more loosely, but without flaring out. The pale green satin matched her eyes and offset her pale complexion as well as her beautiful pink hair which came down to almost her chin, flipped slightly inward and framed her face while the hair at the back flipped out. He thought it was beautiful, and had never noticed it before because she always kept it up. The sleeves almost drowned her hands but he knew she could have her blade out within a second.

He had been her teacher. He had known her since she was 12, since she was fresh out of the Academy and everyone knew it was very bad protocol for a teacher to be physically attracted to their student. Heaven forbid someone should fall in love with their student; there would be hell to pay over that. The second he saw her in the dress he was reminded that he had broken the protocol awhile ago.

She was a strong personality, one to match Lady Tsunade, someone for whom Kakashi had always had a great respect. She was a skilled fighter and would never ask him to be the one to protect her. She would, in her marriage, despite Konoha tradition, not be one to obey her husband no matter what. She was too independent for that. Haruno Sakura, the little flower, was his perfect match in every way- at least he thought so.

Except he had been her teacher. It was only 6 years difference, there had been much more between other married couples in the village. Except Sasuke had hurt her badly. He never heard of her going on dates with other men but that was because she felt she couldn't trust other men. He knew she trusted _him_ but it was in a different sense- she trusted him first as a teacher, now as a friend. He was determined that he would have to eventually either get her to trust him in the way he wanted her too or else give up on the way he felt about her altogether. All he knew at the moment though, is that the girl in the dress before him looked nothing like the fierce ninja that he had trained, and yet he loved her still.

"If you're done figuring out jokes to tell everyone back in Konoha about this, I'd rather we get moving. I doubt I can pack up a tent in this contraption so that happy duty falls solely to you buster."

He got up with a half smile, nodded and set to work. Perhaps that was why he still loved her while she was dressed in that gown.

You could dress her up but she was still Sakura.

A/N-Review if you want!!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A/N-Thanks to Seventh-Noble-Kakashi-Hatake, Hatake Sienna (-- you're not allowed to move Sey-chan), and Phloxic for reviewing the last chapter...enjoy this one, i don't have much to say right now.

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto or When I Said I Do

Chapter 3

"It's impossible to walk through the forest with this thing on, how do Ninjas from Kuno move?"

"They don't. That's another thing you're going to have to learn about Kuno in your stay here. You're going to be an oddity for some-they don't have female ninjas, it's not allowed, although they respect the traditions of the other villages."

Kakashi allowed Sakura to struggle through the thick bush for a few more minutes before he laughed, and scooped her up into his arms. "We'll make better time if I carry you Sakura." Her light pink hair brushed his cheek. "We're almost there anyways." When she stayed rigid as a board in his arms, he smiled and said, "I'm not going to leave you out here, relax." She shot him a glare with her emerald eyes.

"I can do this..."

"Normally yes, but your dress keeps catching on things, and right now you can't, however loathe you are to hear those words. Now will you please _relax_?"

So she did, resigned to the fact that she was incapable of doing much else. The satin of her dress was actually relatively thin and she could feel the heat from his hand holding her firmly on the curve of her back. Resting her head on his shoulder gave her great access to smell his neck and she caught a deep whiff of the cologne he used and she closed her eyes, enjoying the spiciness.

Immediately she felt her cheeks burn. It smelled nice but not as though she was trying to smell him. Because, well, no matter how sexy he smelled, he was her ex teacher and that was just wrong….

Right?

He held her, resisting the urge to stroke her back through the satin and feeling her slim frame light in his arms. When she finally relaxed enough to rest her head on his it made him realize how much he had missed her leaning on him despite the fact that it had only occurred once. During a minor mission the year before where she had wrenched her ankle. Kakashi had been forced to carry her until they got back to the village and Tsunade had taken care of her.

She was very reluctant to lean on anyone after being the weak one of her three person squad.

He felt her body slowly relax in his arms as her breathing evened out. He shifted her body as slightly as he could so as not to wake her up but so that he could look at her face. She looked peaceful in a way she didn't when she was awake. The weight of the job ahead of them, on top of worrying about whether or not to give Sasuke another chance had lined her face for the past few days but her façade, while asleep was unguarded and peaceful.

Whatever she dreamt it was good.

Unfortunately she could only sleep for a few more minutes, as he could start to see glimpses of the city wall through the trees and knew she would want to walk into the city under her own power. "Sakura," he whispered into her ear. Shaking her slightly, he felt her stir. "We're almost there, you need to walk now."

She kept her arms wrapped around his neck until he set her on her feet. Still not entirely awake, he decided later to blame her drowsiness on her next move. Not removing her arms, she instead leaned closer; as if she'd rather him pick her up again. Her head was right next to his, on his shoulder. Kakashi turned his head to look at her, confused. "Sakura?"

She pushed her head a little closer to his, and their lips brushed softly. Kakashi stiffened, knowing he should push her away, but his reflexes spoke otherwise. His arms that were holding her slid off of her shoulders and pulled her closer and his lips, against his wishes, deepened the kiss.

Some part of her was aware that her legs were standing on solid ground because the odd floating sensation of Kakashi carrying her was absent, and she could no longer feel his arms supporting her under her legs. She had been having such a nice dream though, and was reluctant to wake up, even though the dream in itself was an oddity. She had been dreaming (indeed, she was still not entirely sure what was real and what wasn't) that she had been sitting in the middle of a massive field. A man who had looked suspiciously like Kakashi, and who had been wearing a ring on his left hand came up to her and gave her a hand to her feet. Supporting her with his hands on her shoulders, once she had steadied herself, she had put her arms around his neck and began to kiss him.

The dream was, of course, ridiculous. She knew herself, and she knew that she had no feelings like that towards her partner, and it was simply a subconscious result of spending so much time together.

She supposed, though, that since time passed differently while she was asleep, she could've gone through the whole journey, from their campsite that morning to the walls of the city in what felt like under a minute to a sleeping person.

As she drew more into the realm of consciousness from the half world between wakefulness and sleep, she realized that her arms were still wrapped around something soft, and her face was pressed against something warm.

She, only then, caught herself. Flying awake, she shoved off of Kakashi and stumbled a step backwards, when he let go of her arms. She raised a hand to her lips and began to apologize. "Kakashi I'm sorry…I was dreaming, I don't know what I was thinking…I didn't mean to… and for that matter, why were you kissing me back? Because you were carrying me-you'd better not have been dreaming!!"

"I was doing what any guy would reflexively do if an attractive woman started kissing them. I wanted to push you away-" Sakura cut him off.

"But you couldn't. Typical male." She gathered up her skirts so that they weren't as cumbersome for traveling through the last bit of forest they had to traverse. Spinning on her heel, she strode off towards the visible village.

He felt a small twinge of annoyance towards the fact that he had wound up blamed for this. The larger part of him that wasn't feeling the irritation was admiring how quickly she had managed to spin it so it looked as though it was his fault for not pushing her away. After this, he pitied anyone who ended up having her as his wife. The little spitfire would win every fight.

OoOoOoOoOo

In the Kuno, the Raikage's headquarters was very different from Konoha. Whereas Lady Tsunade's building was a fortified tower-as it always had been for the Hokage- Kuno loved their decadence and their tradition. Visiting Lord Yoshi was somewhat similar to visiting the house of a King. When they announced their intention to the guards at the gate they were escorted to a lavish sprawling mansion. As they walked through the streets of the town, Sakura noticed that Kakashi had been right and her dress wasn't out of line at all. Every woman they passed, even the younger ones, all wore dresses, although some were nicer dresses than others.

Hers was definitely one of the more tasteful dresses. She thought, as she looked around the court subtly while they curtseyed in front of Yoshi. Although Kuno's tradition was a little ridiculous. Honestly, with all the people gathered around rank on rank it was almost as if she were in a court paying homage to a king, and she supposed that he was one, if only with a different title. And like a king this man looked. Hair that might've been blonde at one point but was now a light grey was cut in a commanding style, and his sharp dark eyes raked over the two who showed him respect.

A young man who looked approximately Sakura's age stood directly behind Lord Yoshi. She narrowed her emerald eyes slightly. _'He looks irritatingly familiar_.' Not irritating though because she recognized him, and distained him but irritating because she knew him…but she didn't know where from.

"I appreciate Lady Tsunade sending someone to deal with this issue. Of course we have already made our demands to Konoha. My nephew was killed by Uchiha Sasuke. I would prefer if Uchiha himself pays our requested price, however, any substitute is welcome."

Kakashi could feel the anger coming off Sakura in waves at the arrogance of the Raikage, and hurried to speak before she could. "My Lord will appreciate that Lady Tsunade acknowledges your right to claim a life. She also wishes that you know her desire to settle this peacefully, without the shedding of blood. Konoha is willing to compensate you for your losses and injury, on behalf of Sasuke." He could sense that she stiffened at his words 'claim a life', but relaxed when he attempted to bring up the main bit of negotiation that Tsunade had told them to play-the payoff.

However, perhaps they had underestimated the Raikage and the people of Kuno. From the greedy glitter that suddenly sprung up in the leader's eyes, Kakashi could tell he had been anticipating exactly this move. However, it would be in bad taste to accept the offer right off the bat. First of all, Kakashi and Sakura had just got there. He had to give them a formal reception before the discussions even began. He had to meet with his council before the negotiations began and then (and only then!) could negotiations for the life of Uchiha Sasuke between the two nations could begin.

"We will get to the reason for your visit in due time. For now, please, enjoy the hospitality of my manor." He waved forward two servants and muttered which rooms they were to be taken to. "We have a splendid feast featured for tonight, if it should please you to attend. My men will take you each to your rooms." They were lead off to the same wing of the house, with doors that opened across the hall from each other.

After sleeping on the ground for the past few days, a certain sense of relief settled over Sakura's body as the manservant opened up the doors to her rooms. (Rooms, plural). She stepped in and gasped. "This is the Rose Room milady." Aptly named, the room was decorated with a theme of dusty pink, almost the exact shade of pink roses. Attention was immediately drawn to the bed. What appeared to be carved ebony bedposts held up a silk canopy and thick velvet curtains. The duvet was the color of theme in the room, and was pulled back to reveal lighter pink silk sheets; the headboard had elaborate scrollwork, and looked to be ebony as well, with possibly some ivory inlay.

To the right of the bed was a chaise lounge with a velour covered pad and more carved ebony for the scroll work of the legs and the arms, and draped over it was a silken robe-a gift from the Raikage. Beside it, a changing screen. The carpet beneath her feet was luxuriously thick, and made it appear as though she was walking on crushed rose petals. An elaborate door to her left, on the wall, was inlaid with different colors of mother of pearl depicting a rose and the knob looked to be gold colored. Beside that door was another one, this time open to reveal a similarly decorated sitting room. The furniture in the room matched the bedroom's décor and she could see an intricately carved wooden fireplace mantle, in the same ebony. Flat against the right wall there was a huge antique looking wardrobe painted with delicate looking roses.

"Wow, he really spares no expense," she commented dryly.

"His Lordship, the Raikage does not wish his guests to take tales of stinginess back to their home village. He also bids me to inform you that the bathroom is behind the closed door and that, if you have any need for new dresses as he knows that it is not in the tradition of your people, he will send a tailor over immediately."

Sakura curtseyed to the servant. "Please inform Lord Yoshi that I truly appreciate his offer, however Lady Tsunade has prepared me. I have several dresses that have been pre-made in the style of this village, including this one and I would not wish to intrude further, with the cost of the silks required to create dresses. However, I do have one request. My dresses are all quite simple, plain silk and brocade. If he could spare, or find a seamstress with which to sew some designs into my dress I would appreciate it."

The servant bowed and said "Of course milady," before leaving.

The first thing that she did in her new room was open the door with the mother of pearl rose on it. The doorknob, which she now examined, was indeed gold, or gold plated and carved into a shape that was easy to grasp and turn. The plated door swung inward revealing a room equally, if not more opulent than the bedroom.

The floor was laid with pure white marble, as was the counter and bathtub itself. The faucets and the tap in the sink and the tub were both silver plated, and fluffy white towels hung from silver plated hooks. The toilet even looked as though it had never been used and it sat beside, what Sakura now considered the 8th wonder of the World.

The marble bathtub was deep enough that filling it would cover her head. As it were, there were benches (marble of course) in the tub for her to sit on and bathe and if she sat the water would come to her neck, as well as a spot carved out for reclining. There was a silver cradle holding freshly wrapped premium soaps, along with several candle holders bearing beeswax candles if she should desire a candle light bubble bath to relax.

A line of smaller secondary faucets, about 4 in all, still silver, were each labeled with different flavors of bubble bath that she could chose from, ranging from lavender to bubble gum.

The first thing she was going to do that night, after the reception was bathe in this tub.

She could hear someone entering her room and she turned back to see Kakashi opening up the massive double doors of her suite. "Wow. If anything I'd say they're attempting to impress you more than me. My rooms aren't anything this nice." His appearance made her wonder how long she had been ogling the bathroom because his silver hair looked damp and he looked clean in a way that someone who had just come through the forest had no right looking.

"It depends on your definition of 'nice'," said Sakura dryly. "I pity the women here if this is what they put up with on a daily basis. This type of decor honestly makes me feel as though I'm a decoration myself, or on display at the very least. Although I won't argue them their bathroom." She swung the door inward once more and let him take a glimpse. "I'm having a bath first thing after the reception."

Once Kakashi had gotten over the fact that she had a small swimming pool for her bathtub, he sat down on her chaise lounge and watched her unpack the bag that Lady Tsunade had given her.

Okay so she had lied to the valet about what her dresses were made of. She supposed a look in the bag would've been prudent, but she just hadn't thought about it. Three of the dresses were made of a silk similar to the one she was already wearing, and similar in design although one was in sky blue, one was a deep scarlet (which, at first glance might seem to clash with her hair but having worn it before she knew it was a nice contrast) and the other was in pure white. She hung these up carefully in her wardrobe, as to not crush the silk even further. She had a sense, since the designs were the same for those three dresses, that they were everyday type dresses.

The other three were the same silk as the first three but the color was far more brilliant and formal than the first ones. The first dress she pulled out had whalebone supporting the bodice and a built in corset at the back. It had the long flowing sleeves, off the shoulder, with a light shawl to cover her shoulders if it was chilly. But the color!! Whoever had made this fabric had broken the loom. The beautiful purple silk had been woven in such a way that, when shifted a certain way, turned a silvery-blue. Once the whalebone ended, when worn, the silk would fall loosely to her feet and would pool slightly, just enough to leave a train behind her

The next two were just as spectacular to look at as the first ones. The second one was a vibrant red that shifted to orange and back and, when worn, would make her look like a flame. It had a sweetheart neckline and the sleeves were small and delicate. A built in whalebone kept the dress firm to her waist as the first one, and then it flowed out. The third dress was an odd turquoise that rippled to a clear deep blue and back with spaghetti straps and a shawl, along with the similar whalebone corset structure.The bag also contained shoes, clearly custom made to match each dress.

"I will never underestimate Lady Tsunade's taste ever again. Ever," said Sakura reverently as she hung the last of the garments into her wardrobe.

"The only problem was, where do the weapons go?"

Sakura examined the dresses. "Well in the purple one, there's the same sort of strap that's in the green one, in the sleeve. For the others…." Upon examining the red dress, she discovered a small hidden pocket just below where the whalebone ended, discreet enough that it would take sharp eyes to see it. She pointed it out to Kakashi and then turned her attention to the blue dress.

"This one doesn't have one," he could hear the worry in her voice but when he glanced at her her expression had changed from concern to understanding. "It's built into the shoe." She held up a dangerous looking high-heel and pointed out the tie, which when done up would go halfway up her calf. "Why is it like this if it's covered by the dress?"

Kakashi stared at the contraption in her hand and then at the pinkette. "Are you sure the shoe itself isn't a weapon?" The heel looked sharp enough to pierce skin when enough force was applied.

Sakura sighed and smiled. "Men don't have to understand fashion Kakashi, so don't try."

Neither of them mentioned the kiss.

OoOoOoOoOo

That night, they were presented at the same time so Kakashi escorted her down the stairs in an arm lock. The reception hall was decorated with mahogany paneling and mirrors with beautiful matching floors, and frescoes on the ceiling depicting various peaceful scenes. "No wonder Yoshi looked so eager to accept our money offer," said Kakashi quietly in her ear. "How much money does it take to keep this up?" He surveyed the sea of pale dresses and formal ninja wear as he was wearing.

Sakura easily had the most beautiful dress in the room, a beautiful purple prism in a sea of pastel. Her hair was mostly loose to honor the custom of Kuno but she had pinned up two long strands from either side of her face, giving the outfit just enough of a touch.

Formal ninja wear consisted of a vest, made of any material, with many pockets on the front ceremonially designed for holding weapons. The vest had been lost many years ago as part of the traditional ninja uniform because of the cumbersomeness of it, and most ninja there tonight wore the usual leg holder with their weapons, although the odd older one had a bulge in his vest resembling a knife.

Speaking of which… "Do you have…"

"Nestled into the pocket in my sleeve. And I sharpened it. And I checked the seams so that I can make the dress fightable if I have to," responded Sakura quietly. Before long though, they were greeting people and being good ambassadors from Konoha. After about an hour, they were summoned in by a crystalline chime to eat.

At the dinner, Sakura found herself seated to the left of the Raikage, and to her right sat the man who had been standing behind Lord Yoshi, the one who had looked irritatingly familiar. If anything, it was almost as though she remembered the lines of his face-that is, the shape of his eyes and his nose- but not the face itself. Kakashi was seated on Yoshi's right.

As she looked to Yoshi for the clue to start the bowl of delicious smelling soup served in the bone white porcelain bowl, she realized something. The two men-the Raikage and the familiar man-had the same eyes…not colour, the man to her right had light eyes, but the shape was the same, indicating some kind of relationship. "Thank you to all who have come to tonight's reception, including our friends from a foreign country. Please, enjoy the food set before you. I'm assured that the chef spared no expense." Lord Yoshi sat down and picked up his spoon. Sakura folded her dress beneath her gracefully and sat down delicately in her chair.

'_You mean you're sure __you__ spared no expense,'_ she thought to herself wryly. In response to a look that was probably written on her face, the man next to her, stunningly handsome with blonde hair and those light eyes- pale brown, almost gold- leaned over and whispered something.

"Custom requires he thank the chef in order to act humble. It's a stupid custom but the old biddies on the council threw a fit when he requested to change it."

Even the voice sounded slightly familiar. "Oh come on Sakura. You can't tell me you don't remember me. After we built sand castles and promised to be friends forever when I was living with my aunt in Konoha? You don't remember me?"

Sakura jolted with surprise and raised a hand to her mouth as recognition crashed over her. "Ryu!!"

When she had been 5, she had moved from an outlaying part of Konoha into the central area. She had been remarkably shy from having been raised near the forest, and didn't quite know how to interact with other children. She had met him living next door, and had formed a quick friendship with him. In her sandbox they had made sand castles and created mock battles, training that future ninjas did when children. He had moved away, although he had never told her where, a year after she had met him. She always looked back on him as a gentle soul, a kindred spirit and, if his childhood personality had been any indication, someone who would never promote his own interests before others.

She abandoned any thoughts of food, decorum and the other guests to throw her arms around her childhood friend.

A/N-Read and REview


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A/N-Thanks to gaaralover1989, Goddess Psyche, Hatake Sienna, vbdani, and Seventh-Noble-Kakashi-Hatake for reviewing the last chapter…here's this one, enjoy!! Read and Review.

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto or When I Said I Do by Clint Black

Chapter 4

Conversation at the table stopped. Every single person turned to look at the two embracing and Yoshi cleared his throat. "Ryu, son, you two know each other?"

Ryu released her, straightened his vest and looked over the table of courtiers who were staring at him with eyes the size of dinner plates, stunned at his apparent lack of decorum. His eyes grew cold and he frowned. "Get back to your food," he snapped out, causing over 50 faces to snap back to the food in front of them. Composing himself, he looked at his father and smiled. "Yes we do. Do you remember when I stayed with Aunt Kumiko in Konoha? Well I made a great friend there," he grasped her hand and squeezed it while smiling at her.

Kakashi watched as she smiled back, looking pleased, if not a little uncertain. Sakura's expression didn't match someone who had found a long lost friend- her face was a little uncomfortable, her peridot eyes showing hesitancy. She was well trained, however, and only someone who had known her for as long would be able to notice.

"Yes, I remember it well," she said. Years of being a ninja had taught her how to fake emotion (even if it was the one thing she wasn't that great at) and she managed to sound happy all the while trying to think of a way to get her hand back. Fortunately, he seemed to remember his soup, and he released her in order to eat.

Kakashi lifted his own spoon to his lips but instead of lowering his eyes, as was the custom in Kuno, he watched the Raikage and his son. Yoshi looked at Ryu with a cold, calculating look in his eyes, and Ryu looked back with an equally shrewd look. Through that exchange Kakashi knew in an instant that, even if Ryu had been Sakura's friend he was not to be trusted. The boy was his father's son, and would act as needed for his father, and in turn him, to stay in power.

He also knew in that instant that he would need to make Sakura understand that.

OoOoOoOoOo

The dinner was so rich and contained so many courses that Sakura was almost certain that her corset stays was going to burst. She hoped though, that because she had been chatting lively with her old friend that no one had noticed the amount of food she had left on her plate. Ryu, once the last dish had been cleared away, had offered to escort her back into the reception hall, but she had declined, noticing that Kakashi's dark eyes were looking at her intently, clearly saying he had words to exchange with her.

"I appreciate it Ryu, but Kakashi escorted me in into the dining room, and I think it's only polite that he escort me out."

"That's just as well Ryu; I'd like a word if you don't mind." His father had waved him over, and the two had walked away together. This cemented Kakashi's suspicions that the Raikage was going to use this old friendship to his advantage as best he could.

As soon as he had her in an arm lock, he began to whisper urgently into her ear, all the while maintaining an overall pleasant look on his face. "I don't trust either of them, Yoshi or Ryu."

Sakura looked at him with a slightly uneasy look in her emerald eyes. "What are you talking about."

"You were looking at your soup; you didn't see what I saw. As soon as Ryu recognized you, Yoshi got this calculating look on his face and when Ryu finally looked at him once you weren't paying attention it was clear that whatever Yoshi was thinking Ryu was thinking along the same lines. They're up to something."

"I think…I think I know what you mean," she murmured back, an overall pleasant look on her face, even though she was upset that her friend had changed. Ninjas were some of the best actors in existence. "There's something different about him than when we were children. He seems to have lost the goodness he had back then. His face seems harder than it was." She absently brushed a strand of pale pink hair out of her face.

Kakashi breathed in deeply and closed his eyes. "_Please_, don't do anything that might jeopardize yourself-they could use any affection or feelings of friendship you have for Ryu against you. Don't meet with him alone, I'd even advise against dancing with him except if he asks, he's the hosts son- it'd be rude to refuse. Do nothing to endanger what Kuno would view as your 'virtue'; they could use it to trap you into a marriage. They'd then have an unbreakable bond with Konoha and you'd be stuck as a living doll."

Sakura was stunned. Not for nothing her old teacher was the best. He had understood all of this, and she realized how right he was.

"I'll try Kakashi, but he's an old friend and how would it look if I went out of my way to refuse his invitations?"

"Oh come now Sakura, surely you know more about Kuno than that. It'd be acceptable for you to turn down any invitations from me," said Ryu's voice heartily. Sakura jumped, and had Kakashi not put a stabling hand on her back, would've stumbled on her dress train. "In our village, women are frowned upon being alone with men who aren't their husbands."

"Ryu, I didn't realize you were behind us, you scared me."

"My apologies Sakura." He inclined his head slightly. "I hope you will forgive me for sneaking up on you but I can assure you that I did not overhear any conversation that you and your partner had, only the last little bit. Can I make it up to you by requesting the honor of the first dance of the evening?"

"You're just as smooth as when we were children," she put a slight bit of affection and reminiscing into her voice. He merely smiled and waited for her answer.

Sakura shot a quick look at Kakashi, who nodded almost imperceptibly. Clearly it wouldn't be a violation of any customs he knew of and she'd be safe. "I would be honored Ryu."

The dancing didn't start right away, but Ryu stayed with the duo, chatting with Sakura, getting to know Kakashi, tactfully avoiding the topic that they were there to negotiate and introducing them to various Kuno officials. Before too long, however, a string orchestra that had set up at the far end of the hall struck up a slow stately waltz and people cleared a large square on the floor. Various couples moved out onto it and began to dance. Ryu offered his hand to Sakura and she took it, allowing him to lead her out onto the floor.

One thing she noticed was that Ryu definitely didn't do any ninja work. His hand, while firm and possessing a certain masculine strength, lacked the calluses that any male in her village had, and personally she found the calluses attractive. She liked a man who worked for what he had.

A small inner voice whispered '_like Kakashi?' _Her lips tingled as she remembered the kiss she had forced out of her head until that point. '_Shut up,'_ she said to the little voice.

As she came back to herself she noticed something as Ryu lead her out to the floor.

A ripple of noise, audible and disturbing whipped through the crowd, seeming to follow them as they moved people out of the way to get to the dance floor.

An odd shiver passed through Kakashi's spine as he noticed the same thing. Something wasn't right- why was the fact that they were dancing such a big deal?

As Ryu turned and took her hand to lead her into the first steps of the waltz, there was an oddly triumphant look on his face, but only for a moment. Triumph changed to a gentle happiness and he placed his hand at her waist, as she lifted the edge of her dress and began to follow his lead. The dance seemed to go on for hours, but in reality it was only a few minutes. With nothing to talk about, they simply spun around the floor with the other couples, and Sakura tried to pretend that she didn't see everyone's eyes on her.

The dance-finally-came to a close, and Sakura curtseyed to Ryu, as Ryu bowed, completing the ceremony of a normal dance. Now there was no mistaking it. Ryu's eyes shone as though he had just won a prize of some kind.

From his chair on the dais Lord Yoshi stood, and smiled. "This is indeed a magnificent occasion. Not only will we resolve our past differences with Konoha but we will now be joined with them in a permanent unbreakable alliance all thanks to my son's old friend-"

Yoshi's words filled both Sakura and Kakashi both with a sense of dread. Something was definitely wrong. Despite their earlier theorizing, it seems as though there was a custom of Kuno they weren't aware of, one that had now lead to her being…

"-and now his fiancé, Haruno Sakura!!" At these words, Kakashi reached automatically for his weapons while Ryu took his dancing partner's hand.

Sakura stumbled back a step, pulled free of his grasp and held up her hands. "Wait. I didn't agree to this. I'm not your fiancé Ryu. I haven't seen you in 15 years, and how do you know that I don't have someone waiting for me back home?"

"It doesn't matter if you do or not Sakura. In Kuno custom, if you two single people, over the age of 18 dance together for the first dance of any event, they become engaged. It's inviolable unless one is already engaged. You aren't wearing a ring, and come on…I mean you're just a woman. At least you know the man you're marrying instead of being married off by your Hokage for alliance advancement. Now, take my hand, you're making a scene." When she didn't comply, he frowned slightly, grabbed her wrist and squeezed. "Smile."

Blind rage took over Kakashi's body, pure fury that this man would even think about laying a hand on Sakura in a forceful manner. Pulling a kunai free from his leg holster, he leapt forward onto the dance floor using his practiced ninja speed. He placed his knife at Ryu's neck before anyone could do a single thing. "Let her go." His voice was threaded with steel and held no room for any discussion.

The couple and the attacker were suddenly surrounded by the Raikage's personal guards, all pointing sharp weapons at him. They didn't move though, because he had a knife at the neck of the Raikage's son.

"Hatake what is the meaning of this? You can't honestly say that Tsunade sent Sakura for any other reason than for marriage for an alliance. You even stated that earlier today when you were presented to us for the first time!"

Sakura wrenched her wrist out of Ryu's grasp once more, and glared at Lord Yoshi. "No we didn't. Lady Hokage was offering you money to compensate for the loss. Tsunade would never do that to one of her female ninjas. Ever. No matter what you might think. And I will not stay in this court and be put on display-I'm a fully trained ninja." She pulled the knife concealed in her dress out of the sleeve and slipped into a defensive position, and turned her defiant stare to Ryu. "Not _just a woman_." Her voice dripped with sarcasm and spite.

Lord Yoshi waved the guards off, and looked at Kakashi pointedly. "Okay, fine but as long as he doesn't touch her again." He slid the knife back into his pocket and stepped to Sakura's side, positioning himself between her and Ryu. The pinkette sheathed her knife as well.

"Ms. Haruno, Hatake, join me in my council chamber please. Ryu, you as well."

Ryu made to grab Sakura's arm once more but Kakashi took it into an arm lock and escorted her, shifting his body so that he was between her and Ryu the entire time. Kakashi's rage was barely contained once he saw that even though he had stopped Ryu from touching her now, the snake still held an insufferably self-satisfied look on his face.

During the tussle, from having to jerk back several times, her bangs had come loose and she absently brushed them out of her eyes. Ryu followed this movement with his eyes and gave a predatory smirk when he saw Kakashi watching.

'_That bastard thinks he's won,'_ Kakashi realized. And from what the Konoha fighter could see, they potentially had. Sakura _didn't_ have a significant other back home to use to get out of the engagement, and Tsunade would risk open war if she tried to retake or even protect Sakura from this village.

However, if he tried to get her out of there, there wouldn't be open war- they could claim to have been acting outside of Tsunade's jurisdiction. And he knew that he would do whatever it took to get her out of here and back to the protection of Lady Tsunade. His mind began to run through various escape plans, considering them and throwing them out mentally when they didn't work out in a way that would get Sakura out of this village.

Sakura's mind meanwhile, was also moving about a mile a minute. Ryu was different. He wasn't what she wanted and there was no way she was staying in this place where women were treated with such asperity. Neither Yoshi nor Ryu seemed to think that the woman should have a choice. And by doing so, and telling her the only way she could get out of being his fiancé was by having another one he gave her no choice.

"My Lord Raikage. I cannot marry your son."

"You're a woman Sakura, you don't have a choice," said Ryu, the victorious look still on his face. This caused Sakura to wheel around and slap him. The other two started and stepped forward when Ryu's eyes flashed angrily. Kakashi stepped between the two, but Sakura continued to bark words at her old friend around him.

"I've had enough of you Ryu. You're nothing like the child that I played with, you've become a pawn of your father, just as power mad as he is." She turned and looked towards Yoshi. "I cannot marry your son because I've promised someone back home that I'd marry them. I have a fiancé, I cannot betray him."

"You can't be serious," said Ryu. "First of all you're not wearing a ring. Secondly, why haven't you mentioned it by now? You're just trying to get out of the engagement. I have a ring in my room, by the way. I'll have it sent to you."

"Oh that's romantic," Sakura fired back in an icy tone. "And honestly, if you were capable of thinking about things other than what daddy tells you to do….no offence Lord Raikage…" she trailed off and looked at the leader. He gave her a nod and she continued. "You would realize that I have perfectly rational reasons for not telling anyone about any significant other I might have back home. I'm a ninja, regardless of how the backwards thinkers of this town view me. In my profession people tend to make enemies, which you should be able to understand."

Yoshi nodded suddenly, and when she stopped, gestured for her to continue. "Well, I don't want people going after the man I love to get to me. So therefore, I don't wear my ring outside the village, and I don't tell people about him."

"I've noticed that you have yet to name him," said Ryu shrewdly.

Kakashi, after watching this whole exchange, now winced internally, although his face betrayed no emotion. If she named someone, word would immediately be sent to Lady Tsunade requesting verification of this claim.

If she managed to persuade them that she had someone waiting for them back in Konoha, even without naming him, they would send a messenger first thing the next morning.

They'd have to leave that night. His mind began to process how this would work, and finally he hit upon a fine plan.

"Of course I'm not going to name him. You're so eager to trap me into this marriage for the sake of your village- which I understand, believe me- you'd send a ninja to Konoha and have him killed! I love him, of course I'm going to try and protect him."

"I recognize where you're coming from Ms. Haruno," said the Raikage stiffly, and unexpectedly. "When you were younger Ryu, that's why I sent you to Konoha, to protect you. I can appreciate someone attempting to protect a loved one." Waving her off, he continued, "If that's the case, then go back to your fiancé. There are other fish in the sea Ryu, you'll find someone."

Kakashi and Sakura bowed and left the room, Ryu's eyes following them with stunned disbelief. When they were gone and the wooden door closed, he wheeled on his father and demanded an explanation. "You just cost me a very valuable bride father. With her we could've established a concrete unbreakable alliance with Konoha."

"We can't demand her to marry you if she has a fiancé back home Ryu, it's politics- understand that if you think you're going to be Raikage. The old lady would've thrown a fit and she wouldn't have tolerated it. Would've meant war for our village and you know that we really can't deal with war right now. Don't worry though, I have a plan."

Ryu waited several long moments for his father to say something before saying exasperatedly, "what is it then."

"They're stuck in this village, aren't they? I'll send a messenger to Lady Tsunade out first thing tomorrow morning to Konoha, carrying felicitations about Sakura's engagement, and enquire the name of the lucky gentleman. She won't have any idea what we're talking about and will send a message back saying so. We know that she has no fiancé, and that she did indeed lie to us. Tsunade tells her that she has to marry you to keep the peace. You have your bride and we have an unbreakable alliance with Konoha. The girl will have to do with some training on how a woman is supposed to act, but all in all I think she'd be a good match for you. We just have to trap her first."

Ryu, understanding how his father was thinking, smiled again. "I apologize for doubting you Father."

'_Sakura, forgive me.'_

A/N-So this is what Yoshi's ulterior motive is!! Read and Review!!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter-Hatake Sienna, I Am Telgar, Jolson18, Geminia, and Rangerette. I don't know if the next chapter will go up next sunday or not...This week I'll be studying for/writing University exams that I missed at the end of last year because I was in a hospital...and then, on saturday (the first free day i'll have)...it's the day Breaking Dawn, the next Stephenie meyer book comes out so I'll be buried in that with a huge do-not-disturb sign on the door. I'll try though.

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto or the song.

Chapter 5

Sakura clutched Kakashi's arm as he escorted her back to their rooms. Her face was white as a sheet, her panic palpable, and he stroked her hand to reassure her while he frantically tried to make the plan he had thought of while still in Yoshi's presence work.

"What have I done Kakashi…." she began to whisper, her voice trembling.

"Shh…..don't talk about it until we get back into the room. I think I've got something figured out." He kept his voice at a whisper as well and then subtly jerked his head towards the guard accompanying them. Sakura understood this as a gesture to be quiet until they were alone.

They reached the elaborate door to her room and Kakashi pulled it open, pushing her in before him. The guard reached out to stop him from entering but Kakashi pushed him away, irritated. "My friend is distressed; can't you see I'm just trying to comfort her?" he said heatedly.

"Lord Yoshi's orders. You're not allowed to be alone with the Lady Sakura."

"Screw _Lord_ Yoshi," Kakashi growled, giving the honorific in an overly sarcastic tone. "He's planning to trap my partner into marriage with his bastard of a son. I don't follow his orders, no matter what they might be, my leader is Lady Tsunade."

His hand shot out towards the guard and before the other man could flinch, he pressed a pressure point on the guard's neck. The guard slumped to the ground and Kakashi grabbed him and dragged him back into the room. Sakura was already pacing inside, nearly in hysterics. "Why did I lie to him? He's going to find out…the messenger's probably already on his way to Konoha now!! I'm not leaving Kuno…"

"You are. Listen to me Sakura." Kakashi grabbed her arms, and jerked her into a tight fierce hug, resting her head underneath his chin. "I promise to protect you in all things. I _promise_; you have my word. You will leave here, and without a ring on your finger. You will never have marry Ryu while I'm around, I'll do whatever I have to in order to prevent it. We need to get back to Konoha before any messenger leaves Kuno and I think I know how we're going to do it. If I'm right, he won't send a messenger until tomorrow anyways, and we should be far ahead of him by that point."

Kakashi released her and turned back to the guard. "You're about the same height as this guy here. Change out of your dress, and into his guard uniform."

"What about my face?" she asked as she started to pull off her shoes, and turned around so he could undo her corset back. She felt his hands brush her skin as he loosened her dress, and as soon as he was finished, and with no time to be modest, she slid the dress down her body, and she stepped out of the satin ring on the ground. Bending over, she rooted through the dress until she found where her knife was hidden. She then grabbed her shawl that matched that particular dress and bound herself so that her breasts wouldn't stick out so much in her disguise.

"I'll see if I can find something to mark it up with," he watched as she pulled on the clothes he passed to her from the guard. Baggy camouflage pants first, which wouldn't show her feminine figure, and a white t-shirt with an equally bulky camouflage jacket. She slid his utility belt onto her own waist and quickly replaced his knife with her own. She plopped down onto the bed and pulled on his work boots.

"They're too big…" she fretted, but before she had finished her sentence, he had her dress in his hand and was shredding it into rags to stuff into the toes of her boots. Once he was done, he hurried into the bathroom and she could hear him messing around with something metal. She heard a clanging sound and, although she wondered what he was doing, she focused more on what _she_ was doing.

This particular guard had a helmet with his uniform and she tied her hair up into a knot at the back of her head before tugging the helmet on so that none of it poked through-she did have quite distinctive hair after all. "What about my neck Kakashi? It's too thin for a man's neck…"

Kakashi, who had just come out of the bathroom holding the tap off of her bathroom sink, debated with himself for a moment before ordering her to flip up her jacket collar. "It'll hide your neck and part of your face." Lifting the tap up that he had pulled off the bathroom sink, he added, "and we can use the grease here to make it look like you might have whiskers. I'm going to go get another uniform my size; we can be a pair of soldiers leaving the city for the garrison to the east, back towards the border. Use your pillows to make it look like you're in the bed."

With that Kakashi left, in search of his own uniform. Sakura, dressed, took the fixture he had left on her table, and went into the white marble bathroom and looked in the ornate mirror. She put her hand on the faucet connection, got a big gob of grease off of it, and smeared it onto her face around her mouth like a goatee. She saw the gaping hole in the counter where the fixture went and dropped it in, adjusting it to look unchanged.

Next, turning to the bed, she tore up the covers and sheets, grabbed several pillows and stuffed them under the covers enough that it made it look as though she was laying there. Yanking the covers back up, she spun around as the door creaked open. Not knowing who it was, she slid her dagger out of its sheath and shifted so that she'd have a good throwing angle, until she saw that it was Kakashi.

"Next time say something, I might've killed you." There was a slight clinking sound as she re-sheathed the blade. Kakashi dragged the body of an unconscious palace guard roughly his size into the room, and dropped him onto the floor. He then stripped his own guard, talking as he did. She sat down on the bed and listened, making a point all the while of not looking at the naked guards.

"Well unless you ordered something from the kitchens, I'm the only one who would've come into your room, especially after the display at the reception half an hour ago."

By this point the silver haired ninja had stripped his own ceremonial vest off, as well as his shirt. Her bright eyes took in his toned chest causing her to look away completely to prevent staring. She felt her cheeks redden and she tried to distract herself by marveling at how long that short period of time was.

"Has it only been half an hour?" she murmured. Only a half hour since the disastrous reception and spontaneous engagement… and less than that since she blatantly lied to the Raikage to get out said engagement. She raised her hand, intent to rake her hand through her pink tresses, something she did when she was anxious, only to hit the hat. Her hand, instead, dropped like a stone and instead sought her secondary worry item-her dagger. She distractedly ran a thumb over the inlay, something she had done so often she sometimes thought she'd wear the sheath out completely.

"Yes. And here's how it's going to go. We're going to put the bodies of the guards into your bathroom, and block the door from the outside so that they can't get out easily. The longer they're unconscious and can't talk the longer we have to get out of here without anyone knowing we're gone. There's rope in my pack…do you have anything we can gag them with?"

She hadn't noticed, but he had grabbed their packs and set them up ready to go. She darted to his and rooted around until finding the rope. He was dressed by then, and had dragged the two guards into her bathroom and tied them to her toilet. Taking the scraps from her dress she handed him, he gagged the two immobilized guards, shut the door, and jammed the guard's hat on his head, covering up his own distinctive hair.

Some was still showing, and Sakura ran back into the bathroom, grabbed the tap out of its spot and smeared some grease onto the silver hair that was showing, combing it through enough so that his hair looked greasy black.

"Now, we're going to sneak out the back. If someone asks where we're going with the backpacks, we've been assigned to the eastern garrison. It's a stronghold of Kuno soldiers. But, if they do ask, let me answer. We can't have them recognizing you as a girl, what happened in the reception hall would've gone through Kuno like wildfire. Are you ready?"

"No." She was being honest. She wasn't ready for anything that had just happened, and even though her training prepared her for the operation they were about to pull off, she wasn't prepared for the ripple effect this night was going to cause on her life. When she saw him looking at her with a large measure of concern on his face, she waved him off. "But I'll be fine, I'll deal. We have to beat the messenger home, before we deal with the stuff that I won't be ready for. Are you sure he won't be sent until tomorrow?"

"If Yoshi sends the messenger too soon, they'll know something's up, that Kuno is trying to plot something. It he sends it with time in between, it can be a casual inquiry."

During this conversation, they had gone to her door, and he had peered out. Seeing no one in view, they began their dangerous trek. "No more talking Sakura," he muttered. She didn't even reply to that statement, only shooting him a look that clearly questioned what he thought of her as a ninja, and the two made their way through the halls of the palace. Sakura kept her head bowed slightly and avoided eye contact with the few servants they passed.

For once, luck was on their side. Aside from those few servants, they didn't see anyone- anyone important was still back in the reception hall. They were soon out of the palace via the servant's quarters and were walking briskly through the streets of Kuno. Once out there, they saw several people who looked exactly like them wandering around, making them not look as much out of place.

There was only one really major obstacle to cross-the main square of the village. They stuck to the outside of the square, taking the long way around but Kakashi figured that they were less noticeable on the fringes of the crowd.

Unfortunately, the luck of not being noticed at the palace didn't follow them into the square.

"Hey!! Where are you two going?" A guard wearing a different uniform-more decorated-approached them.

"My bud here and I were reassigned from palace duty to the eastern garrison. We're headed out now, our duty starts tomorrow." Kakashi and Sakura immediately straightened to show respect to the ranking officer.

The captain scrutinized them for a few minutes, and then, startled, looked at Sakura a little closer. She flinched inwardly, wishing that she could pull the hat tighter around her head, wondering if a stray wisp of pink hair had betrayed her.

A half hour was enough time, as Kakashi had said, for word to go around town that the Raikage's son had almost been engaged…to a pink haired woman from Konoha. And now she, a woman (pink haired, if the captain could see her hair) was dressed as a man trying to sneak out. If he recognized her as a female…

"The trip to the eastern garrison is not one I'd prefer to make in the night on foot. Come to the stables with me, I'll give you horses," he said gruffly before turning abruptly.

"Thanks, we appreciate it." Kakashi and Sakura glanced at each other behind his back. He shrugged slightly as if to indicate 'we can run if you want', knowing how anxious she was to be gone. She shook her head and stepped forward to follow the captain, Kakashi doing the same beside her.

Sakura knew that while they couldn't afford to waste time, they also wouldn't be able to keep walking when a horse could. A three and a half day walk through the woods would be turned into a hard day ride with horses on a road-they'd get there tomorrow afternoon sometime. Her buttock would be paying for it later but she'd rather have that temporary pain than be bound in a marriage she didn't want, if they didn't beat the messenger.

The captain led them to a stable which was abandoned, and outfitted Kakashi with a black stallion with a white diamond on his forehead, and Sakura with a chestnut pinto mare, saying that she was gentle, but fast. "They should get you where you're going." The captain looked at Sakura again, his eyes understanding, and in that moment the emerald eyed ninja knew that he knew who she was and why she was disguised, merely from the fact that he didn't say 'that should get you to the garrison faster.'

"Why are you helping us?" she asked softly. She sensed Kakashi stiffen when her voice sounded but looked equally intent on what the answer was.

He sighed and spoke in a low voice after looking around for listeners. "Because the Raikage's son is a power mad bully…he hasn't been quite the same since his mother died when he was six… and I wouldn't see any woman married to him if I can help it. And if I can help you get out of that, then I'll do what it takes. As I said, these are the fastest horses that we have, and the best at endurance riding. Make for your village, don't stop for anything. The horses are trained to keep going if you fall asleep." In a louder voice he said, "Have a safe ride to the east garrison." She could see someone walking through the door which explained his change of attitude.

Kakashi led his horse towards the city gates, with Sakura close behind. Before long they were at the gate and just outside the city gates, they mounted and raced off into the night.

She didn't remember much of the ride in the darkened forest. The heavy guard uniform that she had to wear was protective from the wind of such a fast paced ride, and she fought to stay awake as the horses galloped through the night, down the road that lead from Kuno to Konoha (a road rarely used because of the fact that ninja were taught to take the cover of forest when they could). She lost track of time, and all she knew was that Kakashi was galloping along beside her on his black stallion, the horse almost invisible against the woods in the night.

They had been riding for probably about 5 or 6 hours before the sky began to change color and the top of the sun peeked over the horizon. "Kakashi, we need to stop for a few minutes. Just to rest the horses. Please." She refrained from saying that she needed to get off the horse and loosen up before she could ride another yard, not wanting to appear weak after all time times he'd had to help her this mission. The sun was up enough that they could take in their surroundings-mostly forest, but a small stream curved out of the woods and appeared to meander alongside the road for awhile. "Let them have a drink, and some grass and some rest and we'll keep going."

He appeared to be debating that move and then his dark eyes met her emerald ones. He knew her well enough to know that the fatigue he was seeing was very real and if she didn't have a break, she'd probably fall off the horse. He proceeded to reign in his horse and she did the same.

"Okay, a 30 minute break. Just enough for the horses to rest," _'and for you to rest you stubborn girl'_ he added silently. "And then we ride again. If we let the horses rest now, they should be able to gallop for the next little while, and we'll probably make Konoha by 4 or 5 this afternoon."

Sakura got off the horse, the earth tilting under her feet as she struggled to get her legs back to normal. Staggering to the creek, she pulled off her cap and scooped some of the glacial water into her hands and rubbed it onto her sweating forehead. Her mare, which was drinking next to her, turned and nickered. Affectionately, Sakura rubbed the animal's nose and murmured her thanks.

Beside the creek was a grassy embankment and she lay down on it, staring at the morning sky. Mesmerized by the patterns she saw in the clouds, she was also aware of when Kakashi sitting down next to her, and of the horses grazing a few meters away. "What do you think Tsunade's going to do about this?"

She didn't remember hearing his answer.

Kakashi was waking her back up before she thought any time had passed. "Sakura, it's been an hour, we need to keep going." She staggered to her feet, with his hand to help her. The grass she had been lying on was slick with dew and she felt her footing slip slightly.

Kakashi's grip tightened and he pulled her closer to stop her from falling.

"You shouldn't have let me sleep Kakashi," she scolded slightly, a very bald attempt to cut through the tension-this was the first time they had been this close since they had kissed. Well there had been that hug back in the suite, and it had successfully calmed her down from hysterics but that had been a comforting hug, it had a reason.

"You needed it." He said gruffly, brushing off her scold, and releasing her abruptly, once she was steady.

The hour long respite seemed to have done the trick. The horses were rejuvenated as well and they managed to ride at a relatively fast trot for the rest of the morning, slowing to a walk several times to rest before picking the pace back up. Just as the sun disappeared behind the trees, Konoha's village gate came into view. They rode through the city gates and were immediately surrounded by the village guard.

"Kuno soldiers. What do you want?" barked out one of the captains of the Konoha ninjas, who both Sakura and Kakashi knew very well, Sarutobi Asuma. Sakura immediately reached up and yanked off her helmet and pulled her hair out of the knot. Being the only known female ninja in existence with pink hair, she was pretty distinctive and Asuma recognized her even before she used her coat sleeve to smear of the grease as best she could. Kakashi followed suit, pulling his hat off and rubbing the grease out of his hair.

Kakashi then proceeded to do a great job of stating the obvious.

"Asuma it's us. We had to leave Kuno undercover and we need to see Tsunade right away." Asuma immediately waved for the other guards to lower their weapons.

"Kakshi, what happened??" He stepped forward and grabbed the bridle of Kakashi's stallion.

"I can't tell you yet. I need to talk to Tsunade."

If Asuma found this odd, he didn't betray it on his face. "Okay. I'll take you there myself."

OoOoOoOoOo

By the time they finished relaying the story to Lady Tsunade, she was sagged against her desk chair, her face registering only stunned disbelief. "I don't understand how it could've gone that wrong. I mean, I don't blame either of you-it's Yoshi's fault, and Ryu's by thinking that they could trap you into marriage."

Sakura sighed with relief. She had thought for a moment that Tsunade would pin this on her, making it her fault for not knowing the customs of Kuno. The Hokage's next words however, froze the breath in her lungs.

"But you've also put us in a position Sakura. I know you don't have a boyfriend who could pose as a fiancé, and I know that anyone who knows you will know you don't. The messenger Yoshi sends is going to find that out and you'll be obligated to marry Ryu, especially now that you lied about being with someone else, and you'd have to do so for the sake of the village. If you want, I can assign a Konoha ninja to pose as your fiancée, or you can ask one of your male friends to do that but I doubt that will work. The Kuno people will then expect an invitation because you're old friends with the Raikage's son…you'd have to actually get married."

Tsunade searched Sakura's emerald eyes for a moment and knew that having a ninja pose as her fiancée and possibly end up having to marry her for a mission wasn't something she'd allow any male to sacrifice for her. The pinkette's voice was stiff as she spoke. "When people marry, it should be for love, and not to save me."

"Then you'll have to marry Ryu. I can't afford to plunge this village into open war with Kuno for a single ninja Sakura, I'm sorry." And she did look sorry, her brown eyes sad at causing Sakura such pain.

Pea green orbs filled with tears. She did understand the position she had put Tsunade, and the village into and she regretted it. She had known that she couldn't ask the Hokage to put Konoha into a war for a single woman, even though she had tried. She didn't want to marry Ryu- cold bastard he had become- but if her village required it of her, she would. She bowed her head, pink bangs falling to cover her eyes, and started to prepare herself mentally for accepting Ryu as her husband, but found it a bitter pill to swallow. She bowed to the Hokage and requested to be excused. Tsunade dismissed her with a sad frown and a wave before looking down at her desk to study a paper there.

Kakashi watched her leave, also dealing with the fact that she would have to marry Ryu. Sakura, strong, proud and independent would have to marry someone who would treat her as an object. This skilled, beautiful woman would never be a ninja again. This woman who he…

"I'll marry her."

He blurted the words out before he could think, but when they were spoken he knew they were right. Tsunade looked up sharply, almost as though she had forgotten his presence.

She was stunned. Here was this man willing to volunteer to marry Sakura to save her. This man who could still find another woman to be with was volunteering away his freedom to save his partner. She decided to voice her concerns to make sure he knew what he was doing.

His earnest countenance also fed another suspicion, one that she had harbored for awhile.

"Do you realize what you're doing Kakashi? This isn't acting you know, it's not a mission where you can fail, or succeed at. It is, however, legal and binding, should it come to having to actually walk down the alter- which I suspect it might. You can divorce her or annul the marriage but you know what position that puts her in. You do this, realizing the full consequences of your actions?"

"I'm fully aware of the consequences of my actions. I volunteer to marry Haruno Sakura. I made her a promise Lady Tsunade, that I wouldn't let Ryu have her. And I will do anything to keep that promise. She'd be objectified in Kuno, I can't let that happen to her."

"If this is what you want Kakashi. You can go tell her. I'll start arranging the wedding. Make sure to emphasize that she has to marry you or else go to Kuno." She paused. "For awhile I've thought that there could be a chance that you were in love with her, since about your six months ago. Is this the case?"

He gazed steadily at her but didn't answer her. He didn't have to-she could see the it in his eyes.

OoOoOoOoOo

After visiting several stores in town, he sought out Sakura and found her sitting on a cliff overlooking the village. Her camera was sitting next to her and her red-rimmed eyes betrayed her tears shed over the thought of leaving Konoha. He sat down beside her and looked at the view for himself.

"With all the training we do, most people never take time to look at the village. It is very beautiful, framed by the forest like this."

"I thought…" she sniffed, a pearly tear slipping down her cheek. "That I would try to get as many pictures as I could before I had to….leave." She choked on the last word and nearly broke down into sobs again.

"What if…you didn't have to?"

Sakura shook her head and her shoulders began to shake. "I don't see how it's avoidable. I don't have a fiancé, nothing to get out of this engagement. It was wrong for me to essentially ask Tsunade to cause war for me. I have to."

"Sakura…I've known you for a long time, 8 years in fact. I made you a promise, and I don't intend to renege on that- I've never broken my word before this." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Marry me."

Sakura looked at him with a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes. "You would do that…for me? You would marry me to save me?"

"You're a skilled ninja," he knew that telling her that he loved her right now would probably trigger a sensory overload so he stuck to the other reasons he wanted her to stay in Konoha for the time being. "For you to be taken to Kuno and be treated as a thing…. it's unbearable for me to think about. Plus I care about you Sakura- how could I not- you're an important person to me. I won't have you with that bastard no matter what. I'd send this village into a war before I'd let him have you, no matter what Tsunade says." He pulled a ring box out of his pocket, the reason he had been forced to go to the stores. "I got a ring just now…you can wear it if you want. That is, if you'll have me."

She took the box and opened it up, her fingers tingling from the texture of the velvet. The ring was white gold set with a small diamond and a pale pink stone on either side. She looked at it, a tear falling on the silk lining of the case. She pulled it out of the box, and slid the ring onto her left hand. Her shoulders started to shake again, this time uncontrollably, at the sight of the ring on her finger, and he wrapped his arm around her comfortingly.

"The reason…that I told Tsunade to not assign anyone to this…marrying me for something that's my own fault isn't something I can easily ask of someone else…they give up finding someone they love for themselves. For you to do this for me Kakashi…" she hiccupped. "For the sake of keeping your word…I know you're an honorable man and I'll be honored to be your wife for however brief a time. This means more to me than you'll ever know."

Kakashi closed his eyes and inhaled the strawberry scent that seemed to cling to her.

Upon hearing her claim that she didn't want whoever got assigned to the mission to give up finding someone to love themselves had made him think that maybe if he offered to marry her she'd understand he loved her. And maybe eventually he would.

But there was no way, once they were married that he would give her up.

A/N-New Development!! Reviews will make me happy because I have exams this week...


	6. Chapter 6

A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter- Goddess Psyche, Geminia, Ghigau, Jolson18, Rangerette, Pance, gaaralover1989, vbdani, Hatake Sienna, Angels Falls8. Read and Review….BREAKING DAWN WAS AWESOME!!

**NOTE-I want to start a drabble series, but I need a paring and a prompt for the first one...anyone feel like giving me one?? THANKS!!**

Disclaimer-I don't Own Naruto or When I Said I Do.

The next day, the messenger stood in front of the Hokage's desk and frowned as he was informed that his master's, the Raikage's, suspicions were untrue, that Sakura was truly engaged to someone else. Ryu stood beside him, frustrated. "Are you sure? Because if this is untrue, and you're trying to get out of the engagement with a false engagement then this village is not only responsible for retribution for the death of Tumaita Jima but must immediately hand over Haruno Sakura for marriage to Tumaita Ryu, who as you can see, has accompanied me with a full retinue who wait outside the city."

"I don't appreciate this Ryu," Sakura's voice rang out through the room. "It almost seems as though you're sure I'm lying, and only brought the entourage to drag me back to Kuno in the chains of marriage."

The messenger and Ryu both stiffened and turned around. Sakura stood there, a glare in her emerald eyes, and her left arm resting in an arm-lock with Kakashi, the glitter on her left hand painfully obvious to everyone in the room.

"Him!! Why him?? And why weren't you acting at all like the two of you were together when you were in Kuno??"

She snorted and said derisively, "because you would've murdered my fiancé, I wasn't about to allow that to happen."

Ryu inclined his head towards her, with a nasty glint in his eye. "In that case Sakura, allow me to extend my felicitations. I will, of course, expect a wedding invitation, being your old friend and whatnot."

Sakura looked at him, and allowed the glare to fade from her eyes, only to be replaced with a distinct coolness and distain. "Of course Ryu. I wouldn't allow you to be forgotten in this at all," her tone matched her eyes, which skittered quickly to Tsunade, asking her to say something in a single penetrating glower.

Tsunade got to her feet. "And Konoha will be happy to accommodate you until the wedding. It's in a week and it's a far trip to be made that often. Please see my assistant outside the room and she will find a spot for your entire train to stay until the wedding." Ryu, his expression still incredulous that she had been telling the 'truth', now inclined his head respectfully and, with the messenger, left the office.

Once Lady Tsunade's assistant had buzzed in that the duo had left, Sakura staggered forward a few steps and slumped into the chair in front of Tsunade's desk. "A week," she said in a dazed voice. "We have a week to plan a wedding." She nervously twisted the ring on her finger. "What am I supposed to tell all my friends? I mean….Kakashi…Sasuke and Naruto are going to want to kill you….Ino's going to be hurt at what I supposedly haven't been telling her…people are going to wonder at how long we've been together, if we were a couple when I was younger…"

"And Sakura, anyone who knows us…knows us will know we weren't. When I was your teacher I was a known womanizer, and I favored women older than myself-you know that. You, Sasuke and Naruto were always annoyed at me for it."

Sakura inwardly flinched as she remembered that his taste was the exact opposite of who she was and realized the sacrifice he was making on her behalf, to save her and keep his promise to her. Putting on as brave a face as she could manage, she nodded.

"Then damn what everyone thinks and let's start planning a wedding Kakashi."

OoOoOoOoOo

Sakura realized very quickly that seven days was a very short time to get ready for the most important day of your life. Even with borrowing Ino's wedding gown from when she had married Shikamaru, and having it slightly altered to look different, there was still the planning of the reception, the flowers, the hair-she had been forced to send out invitations right after she had seen Ryu in Tsunade's office.

And Ino's reaction had been priceless. Sakura hadn't said anything, just held her hand out. The girl's sky blue eyes had bulged out of her head and her jaw had hit the floor. Sakura had gone to her apartment, knowing that Ino would want the full story and there would be no beating around the bush with a false story about having loved Kakashi all along, when Ino knew that Sakura hadn't trusted any man with her heart since Sasuke.

At first Ino had wanted to hunt down two people-Ryu for manipulating her friend, and Kakashi to commend him for going so far to save the same friend. Sakura had quickly talked her out of both-hunting down Ryu because of the political implications an assassination would generate, and Kakashi because "this has to be a complete secret Ino, why I'm actually getting married. If the people from Kuno found out that he was marrying me to stop them, then it's all over and I have to marry Ryu-I don't have a choice." She sighed. "It's going to be a marriage in name only, and even then, only until Kuno loses interest in me. After they do, Kakashi will probably divorce me, or annul the marriage. I'm not his type. He's doing this because of a promise he made me."

Ino sighed. "I understand. And I'll never look down on you for getting a divorce, no matter what the custom in this town is. Although Kakashi should know if he ever hurts you, that I'll hunt him down. But this should be a happy time, so I'll try and make it the best I can for you. At least…." She bit her lip. "Let me help you plan your wedding. And I know you're getting married in a week-wear my wedding dress, please. I'd be honored. I mean, you have to alter it of course because he's already seen it but that way you don't have to get an entirely new dress made…no seamstress could do that in 7 days."

It was fortunate that the two of them were the same size; it meant that the dress didn't have to be brought in very much. Ino's dress was made of delicate silk trimmed with lace. The bodice was a corset (again!), stiff and embroidered with pearls, but the stiffness ended at her waist. The bottom half of her dress was made with the same material, with several layers of chiffon beneath the pure white silk, giving the dress body without looking too puffy. The train was several feet long and would require help carrying-something that Ino would do for her as her maid of honor, as Sakura had done at her wedding.

The week flew by as the alterations were added to the dress, changing the spaghetti straps and low cut front to something a little more conservative, an off the shoulder neckline, that stopped level with where her collarbone jutted out from, with sleeves. When Sakura decided that the chiffon veil Ino had used didn't suit her, the seamstress who had made the dress for Ino managed to find another piece of lace that matched the lace on the dress, and had fashioned it into a veil with matching fabric roses as a headband.

The food was decided on in a day, Kakashi helping her with that, holding her hand all the while to put on the illusion of a happy couple. They tested different meals and decided that the best option would be starting with a garden salad, dressed with a Greek-style, and Italian wedding soup, followed with a main course of scallops soaked in a sake/teriyaki marinade, cooked tenderly, with an elegantly baked potato rich with spices on the side, and a plate of toad-in-the-hole, a British Yorkshire pudding dish, with a French mousse for desert.

There was the option, also, of wedding cake for desert, a two-tier white confection. The top tier was banana bread, and the bottom was chocolate vanilla marble

Her bachelorette party, arranged hastily by Ino, took place at a spa in the village. They started out floating in a hot spring, and chattering. Next, Sakura was pampered within an inch of her life, along with Ino, her maid of honor, and Hinata, her own mother, and Tenten, another old friend.

Her mother was taking this in stride. The unexpected news that her only child was engaged to her former teacher, when they hadn't appeared to have any prior relationship had startled her, especially since Sakura couldn't risk telling her mother the truth. However, her mother had always supported her in whatever she did, and had accepted her choice. Her father had almost killed Kakashi, but her mother had calmed him down and now he was proudly looking forward to walking his daughter down the aisle.

The first question that both had asked was "Are you pregnant." She had never told a harder half truth. No, she wasn't pregnant-the truth. Yes, they were marrying because they loved each other.

The lie.

She stared at her ring as she contemplated this, as the scent from her pedicure lulled her into a trance-like state. She wasn't marrying him because she loved him, and he wasn't marrying her because he loved her. This was something she had been unwilling to confront for the past week, and during all the wedding preparations she didn't have to. But now, she had time to think. She had always imagined that the man she married would worship the ground she walked on and she would love him just as deeply.

Instead she was marrying to save herself, and she owed Kakashi everything she could give him, for what he was going through for her. And if this should end in a divorce, which she had very little doubt it would, she would take that with acceptance, knowing that he had helped her dodge a bullet and living alone was better than being a living doll, always on display, with no rights.

She was brought back from her musings abruptly, by Ino. The other young woman was her best friend and could naturally tell when she was feeling down. "Sakura…" Sakura's misty eyes snapped up from her left ring finger and met her friend's concerned forest green eyes. "I'm fine Ino. Really." She dropped her voice so no one nearby could hear what she was about to say. "I just….wish tomorrow didn't have to happen."

Ino rubbed her arm sympathetically. "Don't worry Sakura. Tomorrow's your wedding day…it may be arriving in a different form than you hoped for but I know Kakashi-maybe not as well as you but enough to know he'll treat you well. After this go home. Get some sleep. Tomorrow you'll walk down the aisle and get married to one of the most eligible bachelors in all of Konoha. And regardless of how it turns out, enjoy tomorrow. Your wedding day is the best day of your life." She lowered her voice for what she was about to say. "Go to sleep tonight, and sleep well. Wake up tomorrow pretending you love him, and pretending he loves you. You can face the truth when you wake up in two days."

OoOoOoOoOo

Sakura was at home that night, after her bachelorette party, lying awake, when she heard the stones on her window. She rolled out of her bed, happy to have an excuse to not listen to her thoughts, and started when Sakura saw the familiar forms of her two best male friends. She opened her window, climbed soundlessly onto the roof and shimmied down. Immediately Naruto threw his overenthusiastic arms around her, nearly choking her.

Growling, she wrestled one arm free and smacked him on the head. "Naruto, you're choking me!!"

The blonde gave a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry Sakura," his voice was apologetic. "But there's something that Sasuke and I needed to talk to you about."

Sakura had a hunch that she knew exactly what they wanted to talk to her about, but let them keep talking. "So you know that Kakashi asked us to stand next to him as groomsmen. And Sakura, this came out of the blue. He's not...forcing you to marry him, is he? Because if he is, there's no way we'll stand with him."

A choking nervous laugh bubbled up in her throat. Fortunately she caught it and turned it into a soft chuckle before she gave anything away. "No, of course not Naruto. I love him, that's why I'm marrying him."

Cerulean eyes searched her face. Seeming to find what he was looking for, his whiskered face, a birthmark that had made him the target of much cruel teasing when he was younger, split into a sad smile. "Then enjoy tomorrow. My wedding was awesome, and Hinata looked beautiful. I'm sure you're going to look just as beautiful. Save me a dance tomorrow night."

"I will Naruto." She wrapped her arms around him as Sasuke stood silently behind them. "Thanks for your concern, both of you." She glanced up into the black eyes of her other team mate. His eyes burned her with their intensity, and she slid her eyes away, unable to keep the stare up.

Naruto released her and said "go back to bed. You'll need your sleep."

A gentle smile crossed her face. "Yes mother. See you tomorrow."

She was back up in her room before she realized that Sasuke hadn't said a word.

OoOoOoOoOo

Sakura stood in the bridal room, on the day of her wedding. Her mother beamed with pride as Ino laced up the corset, pulling the stays tight, so the dress wouldn't come loose in the long day ahead, as Hinata pinned her shoulder length hair into a beautiful arrangement underneath the fabric flower veil. Tenten brushed various makeup brushes against her face, and Sakura struggled not to cry.

For all Ino's encouragement the night before, Sakura was having a hard time pretending that Kakashi loved her when she had yet to see him today, as per the custom that the groom can't see the bride before the wedding. If she could see him, and see him looking just as scared as she was feeling then maybe it might be easier to pretend they were marrying for love.

When her three friends stepped away and she finally saw herself in the mirror she did actually start to cry and Tenten stepped up quickly to dab at her eyes so as to not ruin the makeup. Her hair was beautiful, pulled up, with curled tendrils trailing down her back, silk roses dotting her pink tresses. Her makeup was done softly to accentuate her eye and hair color, as well as the white silk of the dress, and it was all covered by her veil.

"You look beautiful honey," her mother said. "Ino, the dress is beautiful-thank you. And Hinata, the hair is gorgeous as well…as well as the makeup Tenten. Kakashi will be unable to take his eyes off you when he sees you."

A knock occurred at the door. Her father stuck his head in and said, "They're telling me it's time. Sakura you look beautiful." He walked over to her, took her hands and kissed her forehead. Ino, Hinata and Tenten lined up in front of them. Her mother kissed her cheek as well, and went out to wait for the ceremony to start.

The sound of a piano playing drifted into the room, and the wedding party moved forward. First the two bridesmaids walked into the small chapel containing their family and friends, then Ino. The bridesmaids were wearing soft blue dresses, tea length, coming down to just above their ankles, with short sleeves. Their bouquets were white roses and babies breath.

The piano tune changed into the traditional bridal march and Sakura as well as her father stepped into the chapel and began down the aisle, clutching her bouquet of pale pink roses and babies breath like a life preserver.

The first thing she noticed when she stepped into the chapel was eyes. Every single one in the place was fixed on her.

She could tell that Ryu's brown eyes were sweeping over her form looking for anything that would give them reason to think that this might be a fake ceremony. Besides her nerves, which were common to any bride, she knew that what he was seeing was as true a representation of a bride walking down the aisle as he would ever see. She could feel someone else's eyes on her as well and her eyes swept the room quickly, searching.

Sasuke. His black eyes looked sad as he watched the woman he had asked out little more than a week ago as she walked down the aisle to marry their old teacher. Something inside of her told her that he loved her, if only loving the image he had in his head of the devoted 12 year old she had been.

With all the eyes on her, she felt skittish and uncomfortable, so instead of scanning the room she looked up towards the altar, avoiding everyone else's gaze and seeking one pair of black orbs, almost instinctively.

Kakashi stood at the front of the church beside the pastor, with Sasuke and Naruto standing as his groomsmen. Her light eyes met his dark ones, and she knew in that split second that he was as scared with what was happening as she was. She thought he had never looked more handsome in his black suit with a pale pink rose corsage. As she reached the front of the aisle and her father had said the traditional words giving her to Kakashi, her groom had taken her hand and given it a gentle squeeze, reassuring her that everything would be okay.

And in that one moment she believed the lie- it immediately became easier to pretend that they were marrying for love. Because of that she allowed herself to have a ring pushed onto her finger, beside her 'engagement ring', because of that she repeated the vows that tied her to Kakashi and because of that she allowed the priest to pronounce them man and wife.

He gently lifted her veil, and looked her straight in the eyes. Caressing her cheek with the back of his hand, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to her own. It was their second kiss, the first one on purpose. Sakura kissed back blindly, feeling a tear run out of her eye and roll down her cheek.

He pulled back and brushed it away with his fingertip. "It's going to be okay Sakura, I promise." His quiet voice was thick with emotion, fear, resignation, and another she couldn't identify. She knew that only she had heard him whisper that, and as they pulled away from each other, the pastor announced them.

"It pleases me to be the first to present Mr. and Mrs. Hatake Kakashi!!" Her husband took her hand and led her down the aisle.

As was custom, they lead the bridal procession through town towards the reception.

Most of the rest of the night passed in a blur. The reception was a whirlwind of drinks, food, chatter, and music. There were only three things she remembered distinctly-three separate dances.

One was the traditional bride and groom dance. Surrounded by all their guests, Kakashi had led her onto the floor and had placed a hand at her waist. She had taken his other hand, and placed her spare hand on his shoulder. They then whirled around the dance floor to the sound of a beautifully played waltz.

"This reminds me of a week ago in Kuno," she murmured to him.

"Except I wasn't the one you danced with," he said dryly. She flinched.

"Don't remind me. Let's just enjoy this."

She rested her head on his shoulder and they had continued dancing.

The next dance that was clear in her memory was the one with Ryu. He had requested a dance and, as there was now no danger whatsoever of him attempting claiming her, she had accepted.

"I don't know how you managed it Sakura," he said coldly as he led her around the floor. "But somehow you managed to get back to Konoha ahead of the messenger and myself. Miraculous, considering we rode from sun up the night after we danced together."

"I guess I felt as though I had overstayed my welcome in Kuno," she said equally as coldly.

"Apparently, if you left at the dead of night," he snapped. Recovering himself, his eyes softened as he looked at her. "Sakura, I'm a pawn because my father requires it of me. When he's gone I have every intention of changing how Kuno runs but I can't until _after_ he dies. Until then I would've had to act the controlling husband but I promise you, you would've fought again, and I only would've behaved that way in public. I would've treated you with the respect you deserve, and with respect owed an old friend."

'_Ninjas, by profession, are the greatest actors in the world'_ The idiom from her textbook sped through her head. Only now she realized how true it was. The Ryu looking at her was not the pawn of his father but the beloved friend from childhood.

The bottom dropped out of her stomach as she heard him talk to her the way he would've years ago. "It's too late now Ryu," she said quietly. "And regardless, I love Kakashi. You'll find someone in Kuno you can love, I'm sure. Better to marry for love than to marry only to further your father and your village."

Kakashi stepped up behind her. "Ryu, I hope you don't mind relinquishing her. Come along darling, there are some people we haven't greeted yet." Holding out an arm, Sakura took it grateful that he was saving her from having this conversation.

"Thank you for the dance Ryu," she said quietly. Kakashi guided her away, and when she looked back, he had already turned away.

The third dance from her wedding reception that was etched forever into her memories was the dance with Sasuke.

"Kakashi. So that's why you turned me down. So much for not trusting a guy since I left."

"Sasuke, there's a lot to this that you don't understand about this, a lot that you'll never understand. My reasons for marrying him are my own."

His face twisted and she suddenly, instinctively knew what the next words out of his mouth were going to be, and knew how hard it was for him to open up as he was about to.

"I love you Sakura."

"You love an idea Sasuke. So did I, I loved an idea that I had of you. And I need you to understand that while it did turn into real love, that was seven years ago. I'm married now. I've clearly gotten over you."

She spoke sharper than she meant to, and his arms dropped to his sides. His eyes went dead and he spun on his heel and stalked off the dancefloor.

A/N-Read and review!!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N-Thanks to those who have reviewed thusfar-sweet.serenity.crave, Pance, Rangerette, Hatake Sienna, KoeZ, vbdani and Nikki Hatake. Enjoy this chapter, and I apologize that it took so long. See, I have the whole thing written out but it moved too quickly for my liking so I made some modifications, and wrote this one to be inserted entirely from scratch. I'm also upping the rating to T to be safe.

**REQUEST FOR HELP- I want to start a drabble series but I need a few prompts…so please, give me a pairing and a keyword. PLEASE!! (Sey-chan, I'm looking at you)**.

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto or When I Said I Do.

Chapter 7

As she looked back on it in her hotel room with Kakashi, she regretted acting so biting towards Sasuke. He was her friend and after this was done she'd need all the friends she could get.

Sakura was still wearing her wedding dress, uncertain of what to do. Kakashi was in the bathroom, she assumed, changing. The door opened and light spilled into the darkened room as Sakura looked out over the village.

She turned around to look at him. He was wearing a tight t-shirt, and a pair of track pants, his silver hair tousled from wrestling out of his tux.

"The washroom's free if you want to change. Ino gave me some sleeping clothes to give you, I left them in there. I'll undo your corset if you want…" His voice trailed off and he just stared at her.

To him, she was the most beautiful thing in the world, and all throughout the day he had been thanking whatever God existed for allowing fate hand him this girl who would never have been his otherwise. Her body was framed by the moon rising over the forest behind her, gilding her ivory dress silver, and outlining tendrils of her cherry colored hair that had long since drifted free of her updo. Her eyes, when she first looked at him had been burdened and tired but sharpened into curiosity at his unwarranted scrutiny. This girl, now a woman who was so beautiful, and who could be lethal in a heartbeat. He loved her.

There was no way he was ever going to let her go.

She stepped forward breaking his trance. "I'd appreciate it if you did."

Her mind was in turmoil. This was her wedding night; this was the point in time where they were supposed to…she felt her cheeks burn as the thought crossed her mind. She had always been modest and hadn't expected this night to come for a very long time. Sakura knew Kakashi well enough to know that he would never make her do anything she didn't want to do but as his wife (inwardly cringing at the word) she felt obligated to allow what was naturally supposed to happen…happen.

As if sensing her fear, Kakashi reached out a comforting hand. "I'm not going to even consider this a wedding night Sakura. We're married but you should only be with someone like that who you love. I realize this is a marriage of convenience for you and we don't have to…"

Immediately she felt a rush of gratitude. Lunging forward in the dress (a difficult task at best), she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. He stroked her hair with one hand and rubbed her back with the other, attempting to relax her.

"Thank you Kakashi." With the hand rubbing her back, he undid the bowtie of the corset and pulled the strings loose.

He relaxed and allowed her out of his hold. "Go change."

She did as he said, changing into a tank top and track pants like his. When she went back out into the hotel room, he was sitting on the bed.

That night, she fell asleep in his arms. There was nothing romantic about it; it was instead a very gentle move, a protective, sheltering one.

She slept better than she had in weeks.

OoOoOoOoOo

Ino looked out at the moon, her hair still twisted up, and gown still on, knowing that under this sky, her best friend was experiencing her wedding night and she was probably terrified. Shikamaru stepped up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Are you okay love?"

She leaned back against his shoulder and sighed. "No. Sakura was terrified for this wedding, you know that." Although Sakura had sworn her to secrecy, she had felt obliged to tell her husband, as there was a distinct lack of secrets between them...Ino knew that Sakura trusted Shika.

Shikamaru frowned and breathed in his wife's scent, a mixture of citrus (her perfume) and floral (her shampoo). She turned her head and kissed his neck. "I know you're scared but what if she's happy in this union? I talked to Kakashi and he seemed content-if not happy. And besides, interfering is so..." His wife's sharp blue eyes drilled into him and he bit back the 'troublesome' that had almost slipped out.

The blonde bit her lip.

"You know how much he values his honor. He promised her that he would get her out of the engagement with Ryu-and he's done that. This wedding does that. He fulfills his end of the bargain. And he doesn't know….as a matter of fact I don't even think she has acknowledged it, but I think she loves him. And living in close quarters like that, she'll realize it but she's so certain that once everything's calmed down, that he's going to get an annulment. With that set in her head…when the Kuno envoy leaves she'll be two things- hurt and scared."

OoOoOoOoOo

A week had passed since she walked down the aisle and had taken Kakashi as her husband. They had gone on a honeymoon of sorts, to a resort about an hour outside Konoha, but if anything they were acting more as friends than as young newlyweds. Every night Sakura slept in the same bed as him, getting more and more adjusted to the feeling of heat radiating from the other side of the bed, or an arm slung over her while she slept.

She also got used to the snoring. The first night they had slept together, she slept like a baby because the day prior had been so exhaustive, but the second night together she had barely gotten any. The man sounded as though there was a thunderstorm happening in their bed. Fortunately it hadn't taken her long to adjust and now she slept soundly.

During they day Kakashi acted as he had before they married-her quietly supportive friend who was whatever she needed. He would act affectionate, putting an arm around her while sight seeing, kissing her on the forehead, and (only once though, and in a situation where it was a classic romantic scene and they couldn't not show some affection) he had kissed her softly on the lips. This had happened while they were on a night walk tour, with the moon and the stars both glittering silvery above their heads, in front of a waterfall.

True, there had been no one around, and no one to put a show on for but she appreciated the thought.

When Kakashi had turned to her, and then in the moonlight, for the first time, that one night Sakura felt something within her stir, something that scared her.

It scared her because she knew that Kakashi had only married her as a matter of conscience; because he had promised her that he would save her from marrying Ryu. He was going to leave her when Kuno lost interest in her, and she had no right to feel the way she did.

But God help her, when he kissed her tenderly under the moonlight that last night of the honeymoon, something had awoken within her, something that scared her out of her wits. Something that she had been forced to take several hours that night lying awake to examine before she realized what it was.

She was falling in love with him.

Really, she should've seen it coming. He was treating her in a way men had never treated her, had always done that, especially in the past few weeks. He had volunteered his dating freedom, his very name, to keep his word to her. And that ranked pretty high in her books.

Actually it was surprising that she had waited until she was bound to him in holy matrimony before she had fallen in love with him, considering all the time she had spent around him in the past year. She knew him, better than anyone else-there was nothing else to do while out on missions besides sitting around the fire and talking about things going on in their lives.

On their way home from their honeymoon-and Sakura was willing to gamble that she was the only woman in the village to ever return from this marital right of passage as a virgin-they had not said anything and had merely walked back hand in hand, his thumb absently stroking the inside of her palm, twisting her ring as he did.

This unconscious gesture of his both warmed and numbed her heart.

She told her self in no uncertain terms that no matter what she felt towards him it would have to stop. She would not allow herself to be hurt.

OoOoOoOoOo

Her first day in Kakashi's house, and already she was mad. It was dinner time, she was getting ready to cook and she had made an unpleasant discovery. "Kakashi. Honestly, can you tell me why there is not a crumb of food in this house besides," she grabbed her can and squinted at the label. "'Franks and Beans.'" She read it as though it was poison.

His arm was weighted down by the load of laundry he was taking to the machine from their honeymoon. "Because I can't cook."

"But you ALWAYS cook. On our missions, you always let me sleep and I always wake up to something smelling nice."

"And on missions, we always eat out of cans. I can cook thinks that require heating and re-heating but not actual cooking."

"Then how on earth are you so healthy-and don't lie, I've seen your medical record."

"Check the box freezer downstairs."

She slumped down the wooden steps to his basement and shoved the box freezer open. Stacked in neat little rows were hundreds upon hundreds of re-heatable TV dinners. Sakura tried to control her gag reflex as she pulled a box out and read what it was comprised of. "Freeze dried meat, veggies and chocolate." She hadn't realized that it was _possible_ to freeze dry chocolate, but it sounded very very wrong.

Dropping the box back into the freezer, the pinkette slammed the lid shut and walked woodenly back up the staircase. Ignoring her husband who was just closing the lid on the washer, she grabbed a light jacket and slid into a pair of flats.

"Sakura," his voice had a cautionary tone in it. "What are you doing?" The look in her emerald eyes scared him. It was something akin to a drive he usually saw only on missions.

"Going to my house."

"Why?"

She turned and shot a glare at him. "You have no food fit for human consumption in this house. I, meanwhile, have plenty of food- nutritious food- at my house. I'm going to go get some, and come back to cook you a proper meal."

"Usually I just mix and match, that's why some of the boxes in the basement are open."

"When I get back Kakashi, I want that freezer to be empty and the house to be filled with nutritious food."

"Is it a good idea to go alone?"

"I'm a big girl, and now also, a married woman." She waved her ring finger in his face. "I can competently take care of myself."

The silver haired ninja grimaced but didn't argue- he'd see to her safety. He had kept meaning to learn how to cook, but it had always slipped his mind, or a mission had come up or something along those lines.

Sakura, on a mission, marched out of the house and turned towards her old apartment.

Kakashi, on a mission, leapt into action, grabbed the phone and dialed Naruto.

OoOoOoOoOo

She was maybe five minutes out of Kakashi's house, on her way across town when from out of nowhere Naruto dropped down beside her. She threw her head back and looked at the tree above her head to note that one of the branches was quivering slightly. Sighing with exasperation, she looked back at the blonde standing next to her, rubbing the back of his head and smiling.

"And you felt compelled to just suddenly walk me back to my house?"

"Yup!! I thought that with the Kuno guys still here, you shouldn't be alone-just in case."

"You mean Kakashi thought that."

Silence.

Sakura sighed and rolled her shoulders to relieve some tension. "Okay. I don't know what he's trying to play but I'll play along." She could feel her anger welling up and did her best to quell it.

"It's just, you know how Kuno people are. If they see you alone-as a newly married woman-they would find that insulting. They respect our customs when we're in their village…."

"Yup, sure. I'm only getting food from my house though."

They walked in silence. That fact alone told Sakura that the blonde wanted to say something but was mulling over in his head how to phrase it without blurting it straight out.

However, Naruto wasn't exactly known for his subtlety before too long, he burst out what he wanted to say. "Why were you so cruel to Sasuke?"

Sakura froze in her tracks and felt her stomach muscles clench as the blonde asked her the last possibly question that she had expected. "I don't know what you mean Naruto, I mean I don't see that I was unusually cruel to him."

"He was putting his feelings for you out in the air, hoping to be accepted."

"On my wedding day?? Even you, Naruto, would have more compassion, resignation and sheer _tact_ than to do that. To confess to someone when it's public knowledge that they love someone else…"

Naruto looked away, seemed to struggle with something and then turned back. "Sakura, neither Sasuke nor I believe that you married Kakashi for love, regardless of what everyone else thinks. We've known you too long, like Ino- who, by the way, I know knows whatever the truth is. She kept giving you sympathetic looks last week on that day."

Sakura's insides turned to ice. She hadn't noticed Ino doing such a thing but the blonde very well could've done so. And it was true, Naruto and Sasuke did know her too well for them to even consider that she and Kakashi had been harboring a 'secret affair'. But still…

They continued the way on in silence until they reached her house and were inside. By then she had made up her mind.

"You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you Naruto, not until this whole thing is over."

A/N-Is the loudmouth to be trusted? I hope so….Read and Review! (when I said I hope so, I don't know what happens in my stories, ie, her telling Naruto didn't exist until I wrote it just now.)


	8. Chapter 8

A/N-Thanks to Trinnerti, Mateba, Goddess Psyche, Rohain Tahquil, Rangerette, OCQueen, and Hatake Sienna for reviewing...

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto or When I Said I Do

Chapter 8

A few days after she told Naruto (and Naruto no doubt told Sasuke) Kakashi and Sakura were out on a walk in the twilight. Tsunade had given them several days off extra to become accustomed to the other's presence

"Sakura." Ryu stepped forward out of the shadows, a member of his entourage on either side. Kakashi stepped sideways, blocking the men's view of her. The other man arched an eyebrow and then spoke in a pacifying voice. "I merely wish to talk to your wife Kakashi, I hope you don't mind me borrowing her for a moment."

"Of course not Ryu," he said smoothly. "Naturally you won't mind if I keep an eye on you though. Precedence says that you have a tendency to steal my sweetheart away from me."

Sakura tugged her hand away from him but allowed Ryu to lead her away, out of earshot of both his men and Kakashi. She could feel her husband's dark eyes on her and was grateful of the distance separating them.

"How was the honeymoon Sakura? I'm sorry I haven't been able to get to you to talk to you before now, but I've been working on Konoha-Kuno relations with Tsunade."

"Romantic," she smiled. "We stayed at this beautiful spa, in the woods. Every day he arranged to have breakfast brought to us, my favorites. We went on this night walk and the stars and the moon were so bright, it was amazing. Every girl's dream." She abruptly cut off, hoping that Ryu wouldn't hear the wistfulness in her voice.

He stopped walking, and turned to look at her, shocked. He'd heard it, even though she had tried to catch herself. "You know Sakura on your wedding day, even that first day in Tsunade's office, you didn't sound like this, or look like this. You looked scared, and it seemed as though it was a sham- I didn't even believe you when you told me that you loved him at your wedding. But now you've gone through with it, and you look different. Your eyes are shining, and I think….I think you really are in love with him."

Sakura smiled softly.

"I _am_ in love with him Ryu. And what you said at the wedding when we danced, about how you wouldn't be a pawn of your father's once he passed…I believe you. The boy I was friends with when I was younger wasn't anything like the way you acted in Kuno. And if I hadn't been in love with Kakashi, and engaged to him, I may have committed as long as you had promised me that you weren't the person you portrayed yourself to be."

Ryu glanced back at the silver haired ninja, raising his voice slightly. "You're lucky, Kakashi, to have someone who loves you like she does." Sakura's cheeks turned the colour of her hair because she knew that, as far as Kakashi knew, she was only putting on an act. Ryu then dropped his voice and refocused on her eyes. Lowering his voice, he murmured to her, "and you, my old friend, are also fortunate. When I meet someone who I feel I can look at with the amount of love that he looks at you with, you'll receive an invitation to my wedding."

He kissed his hand and returned her to Kakashi's care. "The Kuno envoy has completed its business in Konoha. Tomorrow, we'll be making our way back to Kuno to report to my father that I am no longer engaged. It was good to see you again Sakura."

The pink-haired girl barely managed to stutter out a goodbye to her old friend; she was still processing what he had said.

There was no way what he had said was true.

He thought that Kakashi…loved her?

He took her hand as they walked, a motion that felt as natural as breathing. People offered them congratulations as they continued up the main drag of Konoha, and Kakashi, seeming to sense that she wasn't entirely there, spoke for both of them.

Her body felt as though she was watching it from the outside.

She watched herself look up at Kakashi, smiling and thanking yet another well wisher, glancing down at her as he did so.

His eyes looked the same. She came back to earth with a bump. Kakashi was looking at her the exact same way he had six months ago before any of this happened. His eye shape looked soft, the corners crinkling with his smile and while they looked happy, they weren't screaming 'I love you'.

Really, getting hope up was foolish.

It was only once they were home that she realized how far gone she was, to have allowed herself to get up hope that he might love her back. The promise to not become further gone, and to stop loving him had been futile. Really, feelings weren't something that could be turned on and off with a switch and emotions as strong as this only intensified.

She wandered off into the house and plopped down in a recliner in the basement and closed her eyes.

Acknowledging her now strong feelings, she confronted the fact that she now had two options.

Option one-she could continue acting towards Kakashi in the manner she had, behaving in their home as though they were no more than close friends and outside the home as though they were a pair of newlyweds.

Acceptable. Safe. Probably the wiser decision to make. She wouldn't get anymore in over her head.

Option two-act like his wife in the house and outside. Prepare his meals, keep the house, and just…act as though this was real.

Unwise. She already knew that she loved him, if she pretended anymore that this was real, and pretended anymore that there was a chance he loved her back, she ran the risk of being hurt very badly when the marriage was dissolved.

And yet…this was the only time she would ever be in a relationship like this. A divorced woman in Konoha did not marry again-not even Sasuke would want her after Kakashi served her the papers.

She sighed, sat up and began to head for bed.

Only a fool wouldn't go for it.

OoOoOoOoOo

The town pub was filled with raucous laughter, as Sasuke wiped the sticky bar with a damp rag. It was about 2 in the morning and people were starting to lean more towards drunk than sober. It was something he marveled about in his extra job as a bartender-how people could drink themselves into oblivion night after night with no repercussions.

A unfamiliar face sat at the bar and was flagging him down.

"What do you want?"

"Another beer please." The words were slurred.

"Honestly, don't you think you've had enough?"

"Nope. I can still see straight." Sasuke sighed and reached below the bar. Grabbing the neck of the bottle, he used a kunai out of his pack to pop the lid off and set it on the bar.

"5.50." The coins, as well as a tip, landed on the bar. Sasuke swept it up and dropped the tip into his tip jar, and put the rest in the register.

"You know what Uchiha?" A pause while half the beer was chugged. "I'm sorry about what happened with Sakura." Sasuke, who had picked up a wet highball glass and was now drying it.

The bartender snorted. "I can't imagine what you're talking about."

"A friend told me about what happened at Sakura's wedding. It's not fair, she swore to love you for so long and then gave you up when you wanted her."

Internally Sasuke winced at the reminder. Outwardly he remained stoic and said, "I had my chance at her, I missed it."

"You might get it again, if my source is right."

His hands stopped their drying motion and he looked at the stranger. "What do you mean."

"Well, if you don't mind having her divorced, then you will. A friend mentioned to me that it's a sham marriage. He's going to get an annulment and then she'll be cast off."

Sasuke leveled him with a contemplative stare. "How reliable is your source."

The drunk shrugged as he slugged back another quarter of his beer. "Friend of mine."

OoOoOoOoOo

The Kuno envoy left the next day, mid morning. Sakura got out of bed and looked out over the city from the window of Kakashi's house, and watched with dismay as the last horse of the entourage disappeared through the city gates into the early morning mists.

She wanted to scream, she wanted to shout out through the golden light of first dawn that they couldn't go.

When they left, this façade of a marriage was over. When they left, Kakashi would leave her. Not right away of course, because they had just gotten back from their honeymoon a few days ago and they had to keep up the appearance that this had been a planned marriage, so no word could get back to Ryu and Yoshi that they had split up already…

But with them gone, their marriage was as good as over. She closed her eyes against the tears threatening to form and stretched, feeling the cotton of the old shirt of Kakashi's that she wore to bed brush her skin.

Kakashi was still lying asleep in the bed. Option two had to be implemented today. Time was short if she wanted to persuade him that she'd make a good wife. She knew that he had enjoyed her cooking the past few days but she had yet to make him a good breakfast. Still wearing nothing but his oversized shirt that came down to halfway down her thighs and a pair of female boxers, she went downstairs and got a start on breakfast.

When she heard him moving around upstairs about half an hour later, at quarter after nine she was done. The bacon was fried to perfection, the eggs were scrambled and spiced just to a degree that she knew he liked them, and the toast was a perfect golden brown.

Instead of coffee, (she didn't like the concoction and she couldn't find the filters for him), she served tall glasses of orange juice.

Her hair was still a mess, she was still only wearing his old t-shirt and a pair of female boxers, but darn it, the breakfast was served, and it looked damned good.

She could hear his footsteps on the stairs as he descended the stairway, his silver hair messy. She looked up for a moment before hastily averting her eyes-he was only wearing pajama bottoms. His shirtless form looked far more attractive than any male specimen she had ever seen. And it wasn't as if this was her first time seeing him half naked-how many missions had they been on together? However, in this intimate setting of him being the husband and her being the wife preparing breakfast, never before had this happened. The night before had been the first time he had slept with her without a shirt and it had been dark when he had crawled into bed.

She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt and from the heat that her cheeks were an unflattering shade of burgundy, and she turned away to try and hide them. "It smelled so good in here," he commented. "I thought I'd come down and check it out." She heard one of the chairs squeak as he pulled it out and the accompanying thud as he sat down.

"Yes," she said, attempting to make her voice normal. She grabbed the two glasses of orange juice she had just poured and turned to set them on the table. "I thought that I'd make some breakfast as it's the only meal I have yet to cook." She looked up from her study of the pulp swirling in the orange juice to meet Kakashi's eyes for the first time that morning.

Her eyes were immediately drawn to his chest, whether or not she wanted them to be. She could see, if only from the light glinting off of it, the light web of silver down that covered his chest. Emerald orbs took a split second to dance across his chest's contours, and she froze as his pectoral muscles rippled. She shot her eyes up to his and noticed with slight disgust that he was amused. "Are you distracted Sakura?" he asked lightly, rolling his shoulders slightly to accentuate his build.

He watched with amusement as her eyes steeled with determination, and then allowed his gaze-so she could see it-to rove down her still bare legs. He was no fool-experienced in the field of flirting; he could tell that she was eyeing his naked chest. He reached for his glass of orange juice and flexed on purpose once more. This caused her to blush and then scowl suddenly and spin around. "Kakashi, I have a lovely healthy breakfast sitting here for you. If you want it you will go back up to our room and put some manner of t-shirt on."

"Says the girl who's only wearing my old t-shirt and a pair of boxers."

But she heard the chair scrape and inwardly sighed with relief as she heard his footsteps…approaching her? Her hands clenched into fists around the edge of the counter before she could react, and her stomach followed suit. The latter, however, was a pleasant sensation, one that surprised and shocked her.

She'd never felt that before in her short life.

All while this was happening she had been increasingly aware of his presence directly behind her. His chest was a heat source; one that she could feel from what she thought was still a safe distance away.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt his lips slowly, almost cautiously but very sensually traced the delicate line of her neck, down to her shoulder, giving the shirt a gentle tug, and exposing the pale skin there. The clenching in her stomach turned to liquid fire that spread through her body but seemed especially potent at the spot where his lips were in contact with her skin. His hands moved to her hips and pulled her gently back but she barely noticed it as her slender body bumped against his.

The sensations that were racing through his every nerve touching her nearly drove him insane. He slipped his hand under the hem of the t-shirt and skimmed his hand along her flat stomach. His eyes had been closed while doing this; unsure how she would react but now he raised his eyes to watch her face as he nibbled on her neck. Her eyes were closed and her fists were clenched as she visibly tried to control herself.

Lowering his eyes again, he shifted his mouth so that he was nibbling more on her neck, and then allowed his teeth to graze her earlobe. Easing her around while he did this, he gently put a hand behind her neck, and kept one at her waist, cradling her in his arms.

'_What are you doing??'_ Her mind was screaming at her to get out of this situation. It was bad enough that she was falling in love with someone who was going to leave her; she didn't have to stab the knife deeper.

Then he pressed his lips to hers, after trailing down her jaw line from her ear, and all protest died. He smelled musky, but in a pleasant way, a combination of cedar and whatever aftershave he used, and he tasted like citrus due to the orange juice.

His hands began to rove again, wandering further up the shirt than the hemline this time, caressing her smooth back, tracing aimless patterns on it. His lips left hers and went back to working on her neck. Her arms were around him by this point and marveling at the precise strength that lay in his body, as she mirrored his tracing patters with her own hands. The heat from his bare torso was driving her insane, and she had never felt more at home than she did in his arms.

He was attacking her ear again but this time he couldn't keep silent. As her hands continued to tease the skin on his back he released her ear and murmured her name huskily.

This brought her back to earth with a bump. The situation could get out of hand quickly (not as if she didn't want it to…every inch of her body was begging her for it), but if it did it wouldn't be a good thing.

Abrputly, while she still had the will to do so, she pushed him away. "No, Kakashi, we can't." Aware that her skin was probably flushed and her eyes still heavy with fervor, she looked away and slithered out from his embrace. "We can't."

Without offering an explanation she turned away and hurried towards the stairs leading to the room. "Breakfast is probably cold. Throw it into the oven to reheat it. I'm going to have a shower."

A/N-So this chapter definitely begs the question...what was Naruto (if he's the one that spilled)...THINKING...and why did he tell someone other than Sasuke?


	9. Chapter 9

A/N-This is the last full chappie….Thanks to those who reviewed it-OCQueen, Rangerette, KoeZ, devilsredemptionangelsfall, Hatake Sienna, Shadow miko, Sasusakuava, and Cheekydemon.

For my next story, I have a lot of fiction with original characters (as in entirely my creation, no Naruto or any anime involved.) that I wrote to amuse a friend of mine. I think I'm going to try switching them over to Naruto stories and see how they're received; however, I would like a general consensus for the pairing. Any requests??

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto or When I said I Do

The water ran down her skin in icy rivulets as she leaned her forehead against the wall of the shower. The sensation of cold slowly worked to reverse the heat that had pooled throughout her body.

What on earth had she been thinking?? Letting him go after her like that. She couldn't deny that she had liked it-although the word 'liked' was probably the world's biggest understatement.

She, Haruno Sakura, had almost lost control. She was sure that if she hadn't pushed him away, he would have had his way with her and she doubted that she would've stopped him. Inhaling deeply, she felt her body shiver as it remembered the sensations of his lips on hers.

Adjusting herself so that she was facing the tap she decided. She couldn't let him take the chance to get hurt. And what she needed to do was distance herself emotionally from him.

She might escape from this unscathed-aside from the fact that she loved him- if she could manage to do that one thing.

OoOoOoOoOo

Kakashi watched her go and then slumped down into a chair, muttering to himself, "What just happened?"

For the past week or so, ever since they had gotten married, he had respected her space, although at night, they slept in each others arms. He'd loved her for awhile-that he had acknowledged to himself and having her sleep right next to him every night had put him into the false illusion that she loved him back.

However, it had taken her pushing him away like this, as he finally acted on how he felt to remind him that how she felt wasn't necessarily the same. She was married to him-but she didn't necessarily love him. For her it was for convenience only.

He was well aware that he was incapable of _making_ someone love him. But he could try.

And in her case, he'd do his best. But for now, it would be best if they didn't see each other.

OoOoOoOoOo

When she came downstairs, dressed decently in a v-necked t-shirt and a pair of jeans, he was gone. He hadn't left a note, but if she assumed correctly he had gone to cool down, using nature to serve the same purpose that she'd used the shower.

It would be best, she decided, if she was gone by the time he got back. She didn't want to even imagine the awkwardness that would exist between them, now that she had spurned him. Looking around the kitchen for something to do, she decided that a little shopping was in order. This was still his home and it still looked entirely masculine. Some feminine touches were in order. She turned back to their room to retrieve what she usually left the house with-her purse, and her dagger (just in case), stuck into her back pocket and hidden by the hem of her shirt.

She decided though, to go see Ino first. Her best friend had helped her through this so far and to make it through the rest of this she'd definitely need her friend.

OoOoOoOoOo

Shikamaru waited until Sakura had left before he went a different way. She and Ino had been sequestered in the couple's sunroom and as soon as Sakura had gone to the bathroom, Ino had come to her husband, pale.

"What I thought would happen has happened. She loves him, and she's realized it. She knows she's going to be hurt and she doesn't know what she's going to do." Ino was distraught, in a state that Shikamaru had never seen her, and he hated it.

However troublesome it was going to be to get his white haired blue eyed love back to normal, he'd do it.

There was something he knew that Ino didn't, something he hadn't told her because of all that had happened. He had been talking to Sasuke just after Sakura and Kakashi had gone to Lightning, and Sasuke had confided in him about asking Sakura out and her subsequent refusal. At the time, he had asked Shikamaru to help him get Sakura to say yes. Then she had come back, announced her engagement to and subsequently married Kakashi, and he hadn't been able to help.

If all went according to plan, Sasuke could offer her the second chance she needed once Kakashi dissolved the marriage.

OoOoOoOoOo

Sasuke paced around the Uchiha mansion, debating with himself how to handle the information that he had been given.

Kakashi was going to leave her.

And yet how reliable was the source? 'A friend' of a drunken man was really nothing.

But was it worth the risk?

The doorbell rang. He abruptly stopped his pacing and went to go answer it.

Shikamaru stood there. "Hey Uchiha. I'll help you now, no matter how troublesome it's going to be…he's going to leave her."

OoOoOoOoOo

Spending all day getting lost in various shops, she stopped off at their house once or twice to drop off her purchases, and then set out again, figuring that after all she'd been through in the past little while, she deserved some measure of splurging. She could move all this back to her own house when the annulment happened, but for now Sakura figured that she might as well make the apartment look feminine. After dropping off the last load she then turned towards groceries.

His apartment was fine for food-for a single male. There was bacon, eggs, canned beans, instant pasta and not much else. When she had first seen this, she had rolled her eyes and wondered how it was that men cooked so little and yet still managed to survive.

She spent about half an hour pushing a cart through the grocery store, picking up fruit, veggies, a couple different types of meat, and some spices.

And chocolate. That was distinctly lacking in his house, and needed to be rectified.

She finished up and began walking the 10 minute walk home but within just a little while, her muscles began to protest. She had picked up a lot of bottles of various things to drink too, and they were weighing down the bundle. Her fingers began to tingle as the bag's handle cut off circulation in her fingers.

Someone stepped out of an alleyway she was passing and held out his hand. "Let me help you with that, it looks so heavy." Before she knew it, one of her hands had been relieved of its burden, allowing her to shift her now uneven load to a more spread out position. She looked up and her light eyes met Sasuke's dark ones.

It was the first time they'd spoken since the wedding and Sakura was surprised that no resentment lingered in those dark orbs from the fact that she had rejected him and subsequently married so quickly. Her ninja senses, honed from so many years of fighting were immediately suspicious. When they had been younger, Sasuke had held a grudge against Naruto for over a year for beating him in a single spar, only because Sasuke used to be the one who always won.

After the hurt and anger that had flashed in his eyes at her wedding, she had expected him to be unwilling to talk to her for awhile-this was too soon.

OoOoOoOoOo

Kakashi walked through the streets looking for his wife. When he had gone home and she still hadn't bee home (although the kitchen was peppered with different new appliances and accessories), and after a call to Ino, determined that she must still be out at the stores.

He paced restlessly through the grocery store, searching for her and when he came up short left and looked around outside. That's when he saw her, pink hair blowing in the wind, carrying groceries…with Uchiha Sasuke? Kakashi frowned to himself and followed them at a discreet distance. His eyes narrowed dangerously as Uchiha grabbed her wrist and pulled her between several bushes so that they were completely hidden.

OoOoOoOoOo

It took Sakura approximately half a minute to determine that Sasuke had some ulterior motives. Instead of leading her back to her home, he shifted his packages and grabbed her wrist, leading her into a thicket. He set his baggage down and faced a thicker portion of the bush, shoulders hunched.

"Sasuke…" she said warily. "What are you doing?"

"Sakura I want to apologize for the way I acted towards you at your wedding. It was supposed to be your happy time but I didn't….I was a bastard. But Sakura," he turned back to her and his eyes were glowing fiercely.

"I don't love an idea of you, like you said. You've grown into such a strong young woman, and become even more beautiful then you were when you were young. I don't know why you married Kakashi, but I mean, you can't possibly have loved him. You've know him since you were a child, and he's never shown much interest in you either, besides as a fighting partner and a friend. And I've heard," here he hesitated before continuing. "I've heard that he's going to annul the marriage, which indicates that he might have had another reason for marrying you but whatever that was he's not going to stay with you."

Sakura flinched under what he said. She knew that this was the truth, and that Kakashi was going to leave her but him telling her as much felt like a slap in the face. She had to correct something though. "You're wrong Sasuke. I do love him, no matter what you might think. But what you heard-and if Naruto told you, I'm going to be very mad at her-is correct. I think that Kakashi is going to leave me and I'm ready to deal with that when the time comes."

"And are you ready to deal with the aftereffects?" he challenged. "You won't have a prayer for finding happiness or at the very least contentment in another marriage once he leaves you."

"That's something I'm willing to deal with. He rescued me from a bad place and I mean….I'll do what I have to do."

"I see. Well then, I'm here to offer you something. After this is over, and if- when -he does get the annulment… I know that you don't thrill at the idea of being with me but you don't have much of an option now… so will you date me when he leaves you?"

Sakura felt her muscles lock and she quickly set down her load of the groceries before she dropped them. When he had asked her the same question such a short time ago, she had refused him- she didn't love him, or any male for that matter, and dating someone who had hurt her would only create problems. Now she was married, she loved Kakashi, and she was considering accepting because it solved so much.

Her childhood fantasy was coming to life-Uchiha Sasuke was asking her out.

But in her fantasy she always loved him back.

And she wasn't married to the man she _did_ love.

How would Kakashi react when he found out she was dating his other former student? She tried to picture it, and in her mind's eye he looked relieved. Relief that she had found happiness, relief that he was no longer beholden to her.

And she could be content with Sasuke.

"Yes." Her voice was barely a whisper. She looked him in the eyes. "Yes, I will Sasuke."

The dark haired man took a step towards her, and drew her into his arms. She rested her forehead against his shoulder, not embracing him back but merely standing there. Losing Kakashi was going to hurt but she could be content with Sasuke. And at least she wouldn't have to deal with being looked down upon for being a previously married, unmarried divorcee.

The brush behind them rustled. Sakura leapt to attention, pulled out of Sasuke's arms and whipped out her dagger for defense.

Kakashi stepped out of the brush, dark eyes livid. He stepped forward, tore Sakura out of Sasuke's grasp and pulled her close, a territorial look on his face. Sasuke glared back and then left, muttering for Sakura to call him when she got a chance. As soon as he was gone, Kakashi spun her to face him and lowered himself so that he was eye to eye with her. "Now," he growled. "Why are you stepping out on me with Sasuke."

Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at this reaction but immediately she hardened and gave her own reaction back. "Why do you care?" she spat back at him. She grasped at anger, knowing that it gave her an outlet instead of identifying why he was so jealous.

The last thing she needed was to get any closer to him.

His gaze because incredulous. "Why do I… Sakura you're my _wife!!_ Why in the seven hells do you _think_ I care??_"_

An uncomfortable emotion shifted in her belly. "I'm your wife now…and yes, I suppose you care about how it's going to look when your wife goes out with another man- but I was going to wait till after the annulment-and you don't have to deny it. Kakashi, you know how it is for women in this town after a divorce! Sasuke's offering me a second chance and quite frankly I'm going to take it! I should've listened to you; I never should've danced with Ryu that day."

His eyes widened with sudden astonishment and annoyance. "Who told you that I wanted to get an divorce?"

This stumped her. Because in reality, he had never brought up the idea of an annulment, that had been in her mind. "You…I…. I thought it was kind of…assumed. As soon as Ryu and Kuno were off my case, I thought that you would want to dissolve the marriage and you'd be free to marry someone you want."

"I asked you to marry me, Sakura, not only because I wanted to save you from Ryu but because I wanted _you_. I didn't know how you'd take being pursued by a man who used to be your teacher but when this arose I took it. I've loved you since last year. I wasn't going to let you go unless you really wanted it."

The ground beneath her seemed to fall out from under her. Air left her lungs so fast it was almost as though it had been sucked out by an outside force, while her mind attempted to work in overdrive identifying if what he had said was true.

He could see that doubt and incredulity written on her face. She was still close enough that he could feel the heat radiating off of her body, smell her scent, and read the uncertainty in her expression. It made him want to pull her closer and show her just how much he didn't want her to leave him for Sasuke.

So he did. He pulled her close enough so that she was fully in his embrace, and gently angled her face so that it was lined up with his. He leaned down, and their lips were almost touching before she put up her hand to stop him. "Kakashi…"

Her voice was filled with such uncertainty that it shook like a leaf in a fierce wind. His heart hurt as he realized that she was rejecting him.

"I'm not rejecting you outright," was the first thing she said. His forehead creased as his mind formed the question. Before he could give voice to it however, she answered it. "And I do believe you when you say that you care about me. But this is going to take some adjusting to…I'm not sure about my feelings towards you at the moment."

A bigger lie she had never told, although it was for his own benefit. She had to accept what he felt for her first, before she could him how she felt. He dropped his arms as though they were made from stone.

"Can you take the groceries home Kakashi? I need to go….think."

Wordlessly he collected the bags and walked out of the clearing.

She sat there, in the middle of the clearing and did just that. She knew that she loved him and now…if he was to be believed -and God help her, she did believe him- he loved her back. This was better news than she'd heard since she danced with Ryu. She was married, bound forever, to someone who wasn't going to let her go. She loved him back…

He was one hell of a kisser…

And she was sitting in a clearing while he put groceries away in their house.

Was she _insane??_

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He was a fool. How could he have just declared himself like that? He wasn't sure if she loved him or not, only that she wasn't outright rejecting him. He loved her and only hoped that when she came home, she wasn't going to say 'I'd rather be with Sasuke.'

However, it was only about 5 minutes…he was still putting the veggies in the crisper, when the door slammed open, startling him. Footsteps ran through the front hall and he barely had time to put down the celery and turn before she skidded through the door of the kitchen and slammed into him.

He held her slender form for a second to assure that she wouldn't fall, until she was steady but she didn't let go once she was. "I didn't tell you in the clearing, and that was because at first I thought you didn't love me and I wanted you to be able to have freedom once this was over, no matter how I might feel. But I'd be lying to myself if I said that I preferred to be with Sasuke."

He stared at her, knowing what she meant but unable to comprehend her ramblings. She could tell from his face that his normally high level comprehension levels were short circuiting and broke out in an amused smile.

"I love you Kakashi."

Almost as if in reflex to her words, he wrapped his arms tightly around her and kissed her hard. Immediately every sensation that she had felt when he had kissed her that morning came rushing back and she felt the sudden urge to escort him up to their bedroom.

Their wedding night, although late, was the second best night of her life.

It was almost as if that one day had restarted this entire scenario. They no longer acted like friends, but as a tender pair of newlyweds inside the house and out. Kakashi danced attendance around her, and she doubted that there was a moment where they weren't touching in some way. They were constantly kissing, touching hands, or sneaking off some where to get a little more intimate.

About a week after they declared themselves, she was laying in his arms, in their bed, her hand that bore his ring resting on his chest. His arm held her close, and she traced random patterns in the silvery blonde down found there. "Kakashi, remember how I said that dancing with Ryu ruined my life?"

"Hmm…"

"I changed my mind. It was probably the best night of my life."

She sensed his mouth curve into a smile and snuggled deeper into his hold, closing her eyes.

That night, Hatake Sakura, fierce ninja of Konoha slept in her husband's arms and felt utterly at peace.

A/N-There's going to be an epilogue, a bit more with the Uchiha situation, although it's going to be more comic than anything. Read and Review!!


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